


I Just Want You to Stay

by SadaVeniren



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Advent Fic, Alpha Louis Tomlinson, Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Alternate Universe, Bonding, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Fluff and Angst, Friends With Benefits, Implied Mpreg, Intersex Omegas, Kidnapping, Knotting, M/M, Mating Cycles/In Heat, Meet the Family, Misunderstandings, Mutual Pining, Omega Harry Styles, Oral Knotting, Other Additional Tags to Be Added
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-01
Updated: 2019-12-25
Packaged: 2021-02-25 20:53:54
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 25
Words: 34,941
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21611797
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SadaVeniren/pseuds/SadaVeniren
Summary: “Remember the vet job up in Edinburgh I interviewed for right before your rut?” Louis nodded. “She just called me back. I got the job. I start next year.” Harry let out a shriek as he said the wordyearand he clapped his hands in delight. “Isn’t that great! Full time vet job! New animals to meet! A new environment!” He settled his eyes back on Louis, who was still standing there in front of him with wide eyes. “Isn’t it great, Lou?”That seemed to jolt Louis out of his thoughts and he nodded immediately, opening his arms up for Harry to dive into. “Holy shit, yes. Congratulations. Come here,” he wrapped his arms around Harry and cuddled him close, pressing his nose into Harry’s neck. “Holy shit,” he whispered.aka Louis and Harry have been roommates for four years, comfortable in their routine and their relationship. But all of that is about to change.
Relationships: Harry Styles/Louis Tomlinson
Comments: 464
Kudos: 1096





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> We begin our advent fic adventure! New updates will come daily between now and Christmas :D As such please be aware that chapters will vary in length, but there will always be another one coming tomorrow :D

Their flat smelled like curry and them. Harry took a deep breath of it in and smiled. He was home late after having to cap Rubi’s tooth. Rebecca had noticed it during the night feeding and called Harry over from where he was giving Thug a check up. He couldn’t exactly just _leave_ the pygmy hippo mid-check up, so it had taken him awhile to get to the lion exhibit. Then there had been a quick diagnosis of “yup that’s a broken tooth”, followed by the decision to cap the tooth tonight instead of waiting. It had meant instead of beating his roommate home he was trudging himself through the door at almost nine at night.

His roommate was a blessing though, and he’d ordered them take away curry by the smell of it.

“Lou,” Harry called out. “Have I told you recently that I love you?”

Because they had a small flat with only three real rooms he didn’t have shout very loud for Louis to hear him. Louis stuck his head out of his room, headphones around his shoulders. “Hey, babe. Got you that extra spicy kind you like. How was work? Rubi okay?”

“I’m gonna have to check on her tomorrow but she should be fine. Just a broken tooth. We think we caught it quick enough that there isn’t any infection. Besides that scare work was pretty normal. Did some check-ins. Did _a lot_ of paperwork this morning.” Harry put his bag down and hung his coat up as he talked, before he grabbed his container of food off the counter and made his way into Louis’ room.

It was, as always, a disaster of paper. The bed was mostly clear so Harry climbed into it and started eating his food, all while watching as Louis went back to his desk and returned to going over some part of his dissertation draft. Harry didn’t understand Louis’ system for editing. It seemed to include printing out sections off one at a time and going through them piece by piece, and then scattering them around his room in hopes they’d come together to form some cohesive paper at the end of the day.

Harry took a big bite of his food. “Thanks for getting me dinner.”

“It’s no problem, you know that. Fuck knows how many times you’ve kept me alive by feeding me during finals.”

Harry hummed in agreement. Finals were coming up for Louis this week. He had his own, along with the class he TA’d. “Remind me to make you coffee every morning.”

“Pretty sure I’ll just start mainlining red bull,” Louis said with a sigh.

“Did you eat?”

“Course I did.”

“Have you showered?”

“Have you?” Louis shot back. There was no malice in his voice though, and his back was still towards Harry, bent over his work. “I’m not the one who had his hand down the mouth of a lion an hour ago.”

Harry rolled his eyes. “She was unconscious. Giving Thug a check up was much more dangerous. He broke Adam’s forearm last week. Did I tell you that?”

“You didn’t, probably because you want to keep going to work. How the fuck did a pygmy hippo break someone’s arm?” Louis finally turned around and looked at Harry.

In the light Louis’ exhaustion was even more apparent. It was a good thing Christmas holiday was coming up. It would give Louis a chance to sleep. Harry had plans for him that involved tucking him into bed and not letting him up until he’d slept at least 56 hours straight.

“Hippos have a mean bite. Shattering bones is pretty easy. In fairness a lot of animals can do that. Remember a few years ago and I almost lost my finger to that horse?”

Louis snorted. “Fucking horses. Fucking animals. Couldn’t you have been a normal vet? Taking care of kittens and puppies and shit?”

Harry shrugged. “I can’t help the fact there were farms around me growing up.” He was finished with dinner and he knew he should actually shower, but he liked being around Louis. A lot of his coworkers talked about needing to decompress after work, and how they needed to be alone to do that, but Harry had an hour commute home every day, and when he got home all he wanted was to be around Louis.

Louis looked him over, eyes on the empty take away container. “How about you go shower? When you get out we can cuddle. I’ll even read to you.”

Louis meant reading part of his dissertation. Considering he was reading biochemistry (emphasis on agriculture) his dissertation wasn’t the most interesting thing in the world to most people, but Harry found it fascinating. Or maybe it was the way Louis’ voice went when he read his work out loud that Harry could listen to for hours on end.

He needed to take a deep breath but he was able to pull himself out of Louis’ bed so he could throw out his trash. “I’ll be back after I shower.”

Louis waved him off but Harry was used to it. Their shower was small, just enough for one of them at a time, but the water was hot enough to make Harry feel like he was washing a layer of skin off of himself. He emerged red and steaming, his hair dripping over his shoulders. He toweled himself off and went into his room to get a shirt and some boxers on before he returned to Louis’ room.

Louis was in the same position he’d been in when Harry’d gotten up, and Harry rolled his eyes with fondness. He wrapped his arms around Louis’ neck and pressed a kiss on his neck, close to where a mating mark would be put by someone someday. Louis was incredibly sensitive there.

“I’m all clean now. No more lion saliva.”

Louis groaned and tilted his head to the side, exposing his neck to more kisses. “Just the kind of sexy talk I love.”

Harry kissed his neck again, tugging his chair backwards. He could hear papers crinkling under the wheels of the chair. “Come cuddle and read to me.”

“Fine, fine.” Louis squeezed his forearms as a signal to let him go, and he stood up.

Harry was more than happy to scamper onto the bed, settling against the pillows that smelled like them even though he knew Louis had changed his sheets after his rut had ended last week. He burrowed his face into one of the pillows and waited for Louis to climb into bed next to him, a couple pages of his dissertation in his hands along with a pen.

“Come up to my shoulder,” Louis said as he got under the blankets. “You won’t be able to hear anything if you’re buried against my hip.”

Harry rolled his eyes but did as asked, throwing his arms around Louis’ shoulders. “Can you plug my phone in next to yours?”

Instead of answering Louis just did as requested, both of their phones charging on his bedside table. He put on his reading glasses as he settled back against his bed’s headboard, letting Harry cuddle against him. The hand that was holding his pen rested casually on Harry’s bare thigh and he nuzzled against Louis’ throat in happiness as he began to read.

It wasn’t a part that connected to anything that Harry could remember hearing before, but that made sense. Louis had almost one hundred pages written, and he was editing constantly. He tended to read whatever he was editing at the time, and considering how out of order he worked it made sense Harry wouldn’t be able to keep up with what part Louis was on.

He closed his eyes and let Louis’ voice wash over him all the same. He frowned the few times Louis paused to make a note on his pages, removing his hand from Harry’s thigh, but he always returned it, inching further up each time, his fingers stroking over his inner thigh as he got higher up.

Harry couldn’t help the way he was starting to pant against Louis’ neck and shoulder. He was positive this was Louis’ intention, which is why he didn’t feel bad about the way he was getting slick, adding more of his scent to Louis’ bedsheets.

He mouthed at Louis’ shoulder and he was pleased when he heard the way Louis’ breath hitched, his hand tightening right under the hemline of his boxers.

“Are you still sore?” Louis asked, and it took Harry a moment to realize what he was asking.

That’s right, he’d been sore from helping with Louis’ rut, and he’d been whining about it all week. He laughed a little, just a huff against Louis’ skin.

“Pretty sure I’m wet enough I’ll be okay.” He shifted and let his legs fall apart more, giving Louis easier access.

The pen had dropped from Louis’ hand which was good because when his hand snuck up into Harry’s boxers the last thing Harry wanted was the feeling of a pen poking him. Louis’ hands were soft and familiar as he cupped Harry, his finger pressing against his slit. The palm of his hand was pressing against the root of his cock and it caused Harry to groan. Louis knew him so well, knew just what he liked, just what he needed.

Louis hummed in thought and Harry looked up at him. “What?” His voice hitched a bit.

“You _are_ wet.”

“Told you,” Harry gasped as Louis sunk his finger inside him.

“There we go,” Louis whispered. “Couldn’t smell you.”

Harry tried to laugh but it was cut off by another gasp as Louis curled his finger. He grabbed Louis’ wrist, holding him in place so he was able to rock against Louis’ finger at his own pace. It didn’t take Louis long to shift, changing the angle of his finger as he climbed on top of Harry and boxed him in underneath his body.

He’d added a second finger and it made harry whine in pleasure, squeezing against his fingers.

“You smell so good,” Louis muttered as he pressed their foreheads together.

Harry was looking into his eyes, and they were what kept Harry present, focusing on Louis as well as the pleasure. He rolled his hips down, getting himself closer, and closer to the edge. Sparks were starting to fly in the corner of his eyes and he let go of Louis’ wrist, wrapping his hand around his cock instead. He only got a couple of pumps in before Louis was withdrawing his own fingers and shooing Harry’s hand away.

Louis’ hand was slick and it made the slide up and down more comfortable. Harry cursed, letting his eyes finally slide shut. He let the sensation wash over him, the feeling of Louis bringing him off. It wasn’t going to take long, only a couple more movements of Louis’ hand and then-

Harry groaned as he spilled out onto the top of his boxers, probably getting some of his shirt wet too. Once he got control of his limbs he’d need to take those off unless he wanted to sleep in come stained clothes. Louis wiped his hand on Harry’s shirt as well, causing him to wrinkle his nose in distaste, even as his eyes were wandering down to the bulge of Louis’ cock.

“Need help?” Harry asked, rolling over onto his side now that Louis wasn’t on top of him anymore.

“If you’re up for it,” Louis said, already shoving his joggers down, wrapping his hand around his cock.

Harry chuckled. Even though he was feeling the pull into post-orgasm sleep he still was always the type of person who helped their partner, and he wasn’t going to stop tonight just because he was feeling satisfied.

In fairness, Louis continued to do a lot of the work. All Harry had to do was turn his head and open his mouth, letting Louis feed him the tip of his cock. The mattress shifted underneath them as Louis found a good angle, one that let him sink his cock far enough into Harry’s mouth that it was hitting the back of his throat.

Harry swallowed, taking him deeper. He kept a hand on Louis’ hip, steadying both of them as Louis rocked forward, chasing his orgasm. Harry’s eyes were starting to water but he could feel the way Louis’ knot was going to pop. There were two things Harry could do, pull his mouth back and wrap his hand around the knot, or let Louis lock into his mouth. He had to make the choice quick, either way.

He sunk down more, swallowing so Louis’ cock went further into his throat as he prepared himself. He used his tongue to rub against Louis’ knot, almost like he could coax it out faster. He was ready to swallow, he just needed Louis to come.

Louis cursed. His hips stuttered as he pushed all the way forward, forcing his knot to get locked behind Harry’s teeth.

“Good omega,” Louis said with a grunt. His fingers were running through Harry’s curls even as his entire body sagged forward, all the tension cut out of him.

Harry couldn’t respond, obviously, since his mouth was full. He just squeezed Louis’ hip to show he was still there and okay. He knew that usually Louis’ knot only lasted around five minutes if he was inside his mouth, and since he was still recovering from his rut it might even be shorter.

“Not much longer,” Louis assured him, still stroking his hair. “Then we can go to sleep.”

Harry hummed in response, eyes already closing, and then he was drifting off.


	2. Chapter 2

Louis woke up alone. He reached over and the spot next to him was still warm. In the distance he could hear the water running and he hummed as he breathed in Harry’s scent from the pillow he’d used. It was sharper than usual, with a tangy mix of citrus that wasn’t usually there.

 _Well, that explained last night._ Harry’s heat was coming up. Louis had a feeling Harry woke up warm and slick and was currently taking an ice cold shower so he could push off his heat as long as possible. Louis’ cock throbbed as he breathed in Harry’s scent and he cursed. He’d thought having his rut last week would be enough to get him through finals where his focus needed to be. He didn’t have time to be distracted by Harry. Usually their rut and heat were spread out enough that they’d be able to help each other out without it bleeding into each other. One of them could be cognizant enough to give their full attention to the other. But with his rut fading out and Harry’s heat coming up there was a good chance he’d fall back into a rut headspace.

Louis groaned as he humped against the mattress, needing some friction. This was one of the reasons he hadn’t taken a mate yet. He didn’t have the time.

The shower shut off and Louis pulled his head out of pillow, sucking in fresher air. He listened as Harry puttered around, heading to his own room and getting dressed for the day. Louis gave it a moment before he finally climbed out of bed. He didn’t teach his first class until ten but he had office hours at nine because he hated his students and he was going to make them suffer if they wanted his help (well that and Harry had told him he should get the negative parts of his day out of the way first thing so he had brighter and better things to look forward to).

“Morning,” he said as he stepped out of his bedroom. Harry was back in his uniform, the long sleeve polo with the zoo logo and some khakis with enough pockets to hold all the shit he’d need during the day.

Harry beamed at him as he picked up his bag and started looking through it. “Morning. My heats coming up.”

“I noticed. I was about to say the same thing.”

“I think I can push it off ‘til Christmas break.”

Louis shrugged. “If it comes it comes, we’ll figure it out. You’re early though. I thought you weren’t due until after your birthday.” He yawned as he went to their refrigerator and surveyed the pre-made food. He grabbed the milk and went about pulling together a bowl of cereal.

“Yeah,” Harry said with a sigh. “I think it was your rut. It was longer than normal.”

It had been, Louis considered. Almost six full days. Usually he was a regular three and a half days. “This semester has probably just been more stressful than usual. Dissertation and all that.” He glanced over at Harry who was nodding.

“You don’t think this ruins our Christmas plans, do you?”

“Christmas plans? I didn’t know we already had those.”

“Yeah, going to see my mum? Like we did last year? We can go up a day or two before your birthday. Maybe earlier if my heat starts.” He paused to consider. “Later, I mean. We can go up later.”

Louis snorted. He’d started going home with Harry for the holidays when they first moved in together four years ago. He supposed at this point it was a bit of a given that he’d do the same. “Sounds good to me.”

Harry nodded, slinging his bag over his shoulder. “Barring emergencies I should beat you home today, so I’ll take care of dinner.”

“Have a good day, Haz,” Louis called after him as Harry made his way out the door. He looked down at his bowl of cereal and sighed.

The hecticness of his current schedule was really fucking with him. Harry had warned him at the beginning of the semester about the potential for burn out, and Louis _had_ been trying to follow Harry’s advice. He remembered what Harry had been like during his last semester as a vet tech, when he was doing classes, and putting in hours at the zoo both for pay, and for class hours. It’s what had started this whole _thing_ between them, taking their relationship from friends to something else. Harry had ended up pushing himself right into an early heat, at a time where he didn’t have the luxury of taking his normal week off to get through it on his own. With the help of an alpha he’d be able to shorten his heat to only a handful of days, which is where Louis had stepped in. And then never exactly stepped out.

People always talked about how alphas and omegas couldn’t maintain that sort of relationship without moving to the next step – mating. Something was always bound to happen during their heat or their rut, which was one of the (many) advantages of their cycles not matching up. But he and Harry had maintained the status quo for years now, and Louis didn’t see that changing anytime soon. Not with his final semester coming up, where he was trying to set himself up to pitch himself around as viable professor material.

What if he wore a sign that said “hire me” during his defense?

He shook his head to clear it as he cleaned out his bowl and wiped down the counter. He needed to not think about that right now. Harry called it borrowing trouble and it was a major contributor to stress, which led to irregular ruts, which Louis did not have time for. Hell, he didn’t even really have time for Harry’s heat, but he wasn’t just going to let his friend suffer. As long as Harry had his heat after finals then it would be fine. And as long as Louis still had Harry around he knew he’d be able to get through anything.


	3. Chapter 3

Harry’s phone was buzzing in his bag as he got ready to leave work. He fished it out and frowned when he saw a number he didn’t recognize, but he answered it anyway. “Hello, Harry speaking.”

“Good afternoon Mr. Styles, this is Leah Winston calling from the Edinburgh Zoo. We spoke last week?”

Harry’s eyes went wide and he immediately switched ears, looking around the empty room to make sure it was still empty. None of his coworkers had known about him applying to other places. “Yes, yes, hello. How are you?”

“Great. I wanted to offer you the position of lead vet tech if you were still open to it. You would start in the new year like we discussed?”

Harry had to resist jumping up and down in joy. _Job offer! Job offer!_ kept repeating in his mind. “Yes! I mean,” he coughed and tried to steady his voice back down to his professional demeanor. “Yes of course. Would it be possible to get an email with the offer details?”

“Of course,” Leah sounded amused but Harry didn’t _care_ what his new boss might have thought in this exact moment. He was way too excited. “I’ll email you those details and you can confirm your start date with us.”

Harry agreed and after he hung with Leah he jumped for joy in the privacy of the vet office for a solid minute before he even thought about going home.

***

“Louis!” He called as he opened the flat door. He’d rushed home as fast as he could after texting Louis that he had news but it still took almost an hour to get back to their flat. Louis was on the sofa, and he jumped up when Harry came in.

“What happened? You’ve had me bricking it since you texted.” Louis was inhaling as he looked Harry up and down. “It’s good news then? You’re practically vibrating.”

Harry nodded quickly. “Yup, yup didn’t I say it was good news?”

“No, you just said _news_ and then refused to respond!”

“I was on the tube. I had no reception.”

“Just tell me what happened.”

Harry took a deep breath and when he let it out he was smiling. “Remember the vet job up in Edinburgh I interviewed for right before your rut?” Louis nodded. “She just called me back. I got the job. I start next year.” Harry let out a shriek as he said the word _year_ and he clapped his hands in delight. “Isn’t that great! Full time vet job! New animals to meet! A new environment!” He settled his eyes back on Louis, who was still standing there in front of him with wide eyes. “Isn’t it great, Lou?”

That seemed to jolt Louis out of his thoughts and he nodded immediately, opening his arms up for Harry to dive into. “Holy shit, yes. Congratulations. Come here,” he wrapped his arms around Harry and cuddled him close, pressing his nose into Harry’s neck. “Holy shit,” he whispered.

Harry rocked a little on his feet, returning the hug. “I know! I’m so, Lou, I’m so excited. It’s a brand new chapter of everything and I just,” he squeezed Louis tight, finally catching his breath as everything hit him. “I’m so happy!”

“Edinburgh,” Louis whispered before he pulled his head back to look into Harry’s eyes. He was smiling, it was faint, especially compared to how Harry knew he was beaming, but it was a smile. Louis was happy for him. That was all Harry wanted. Louis pressed a quick kiss to his lips before he said. “Let me take you out to dinner.”

“Dinner?” Harry repeated.

“Yeah. We need to celebrate,” Louis insisted as he pulled away entirely from Harry and started looking around for his jacket. “I’ll pay, so don’t worry about anything. We just- this is a _good thing_ \- so we need to celebrate.”

Harry let out another breath, his entire body relaxing. This was a good thing. This was the start of the next chapter of his life. This was going to be great.


	4. Chapter 4

Louis was having a bad day. He’d already sent one of his poor students running out of his office when he’d bluntly told him that it was too late for Louis to do anything more than collect his fifty page paper. He hadn’t meant for it to come out as harsh as it did but before he could take it back the student had already left. It made Louis feel like any of the awful teachers he’d had growing up.

He hadn’t meant to bring his bad attitude into work, but the entire day had been shit from the get go. To begin with, he’d woken up alone. Not that waking up alone was something new for him. Most nights he slept alone, since he and Harry had two different rooms, and two different schedules. But he’d gone to bed last night wrapped around Harry like a drunken koala, and this morning he’d woken up _alone_ , alone.

As in Harry wasn’t even in the apartment. Louis had quickly figured out there was an emergency that Harry got called in for - one of the birds had re-broken a bone in their wing; it was an all hands on deck situation - but it didn’t make waking up alone any better. Especially because it just reminded Louis that this was going to be the new normal in a couple weeks.

He let out a frustrated huff as he sorted through a stack of lab results. He’d known Harry had applied to zoos across England, and up into Scotland. He’d proofread Harry’s CVs and cover letters! He’d been the first person Harry had told about the phone interview, and then skype interview, with Edinburgh’s zoo.

He just… hadn’t considered what getting the job would mean.

No, that wasn’t true. Deep down, Louis had assumed something else would come up. There were other zoos in London Harry could have gotten a job at. The London Zoo could have offered him a position once they realized he was looking elsewhere. Louis hadn’t thought it would ever come to this… and if it had he’d just thought… Harry wouldn’t take it.

Lab results sorted he grabbed his stack of mail and began going through it. He got all of his junk mail sent to the university because he didn’t like to be judged by Harry for the late night impulse purchases he was prone to making. It was a good thing Harry never saw what his promotions folder looked like in his email; he would have a heart attack.

Louis couldn’t help but smile as he thought about Harry and the familiar annoyance and relationship they had built up over the years. It was a solid friendship and Louis supposed he just had to believe that it would be able to withstand the separation. It’s not like Harry was traveling overseas, or desperately far away. Louis could easily make a weekend trip up to see Harry during any time off he had.

This would be fine.

Louis’ fingers brushed over a new texture, not normal envelope or glossy magazine. He looked down and frowned as he saw the fancy cream colored envelope. Did the department go ham on the holiday party budget?

He flipped it over but paused when he saw who it was addressed to.

_Louis Tomlinson_

That wasn’t right. No one knew that name in connection to him. He’d applied to school under a false surname and he always made sure that he used it with any of his purchases.

The only reason he’d be getting letters addressed to _that_ name was because it came from his family. He traced the edge of the envelope wondering what they could want from him. He hadn’t spoken to them since he left home at eighteen, just like they’d asked.

He sighed as he tossed the envelope into his bag. He’d throw it out when he got home. Things were chaotic as is with the last couple days of finals and Harry leaving. The last thing he needed to worry about was whatever his family wanted to contact him about.


	5. Chapter 5

Today had been a long day. Not only because he’d spent it giving checkups to the various reptiles they housed, but because Harry’d had to turn in his notice to his boss. He’d been freaking out about it all last night, which would have been fine, except Louis had locked himself in his room grading papers which meant that Harry couldn’t use him as a sounding board. And then when he’d woken up Louis was already gone, off to do last minute office hours and preparing for his own finals.

The entire thing left Harry feeling… off. He had been pretty sure Louis was happy for him. After all, Louis had taken him out for a nice dinner to celebrate getting the job, which was more than he needed to do considering he’d helped Harry _apply for the job_. But now Louis was withdrawing, and sure it could have been finals - it probably _was_ finals and Harry was just overthinking.

But Harry couldn’t help but think it. He was used to Louis being completely supportive of his decisions, someone who was entirely in his court at all points in time. No matter how exhausted or burnt out either of them were, they always made sure the other knew they were there.

He worried his bottom lip as he packed up his bag and left his office. His mind was going a mile a minute. Was it possible? That Louis _was_ upset he got the new job? Harry tried to see it from Louis’ perspective; how would he feel if Louis took a job offer in a different city?

Harry shook his head. No, that wasn’t right. Harry wasn’t just taking a job offer in another city… Louis had to see that. There was no way Louis thought Harry was just _leaving_ , that he’d picked Edinburgh for any other reason than it was possible that they could move there _together_? Right?

He was on full auto-pilot as he went down the escalator to his train. He kept running the idea over in his head. Harry had researched all the cities he’d applied to jobs in, picking the ones that had universities or job opportunities for Louis. The University of Edinburgh was ranked in the top five for research power in the UK (so Harry’s googling had told him) _and_ they had a molecular plant focus for research.

Harry had just assumed that Louis would know that. He pulled out his phone even though he knew he didn’t get reception on the tube. The last text he’d gotten from Louis was from _yesterday_ when he’d just sent a bunch question marks in response to the bird emergency. He started typing out a text, to tell Louis they needed to talk when he got home, but then he decided no. That would be suspicious. And possibly anxiety inducing.

Harry leaned back in his seat and closed his eyes. He’d just bring it up to Louis after finals were over. He’d broach the idea of going up to Edinburgh together and looking at flats. Louis would have to realize what Harry had intended once he realized that Harry would be getting a flat _for them_.

It was while he was lost in thoughts, four stops away from his stop, that he felt the eyes on him. Harry opened his eyes and looked around the car. It was pretty crowded, so it made sense people would be looking at him. In a crowded car everyone was being looked at, one way or another.

He couldn’t help but still feel uneasy though, and he scanned the car, trying to figure out who it was. There was an older man across from him, two women to his left, and a group of three men around his age a few seats down from him. Though as he looked at each of them they all seemed to be actively not looking at him.

Harry very rarely felt his sex, privilege that came from the fact he was taller than the average omega and that he usually stunk of zoo which blocked his unmated scent, but moments like this reminded him loud and clear that yes, he was in fact an omega. An unmated omega. And sometimes not so good things happened to unmated omegas.

He kept an eye out as the tube ticked through the stops leading up to his, and then he was booking it out of the car with the rest of the people. He still felt eyes on him, and it made him nervous. He gripped his phone in his coat pocket as he moved up the escalator, praying for the moment he got reception again so he could call Louis and be at ease.

No one would attack someone on a cellphone.

The eyes were still on him, and when he dared to look behind him he saw the group of three guys a little ways back. They didn’t _look_ threatening, meandering their way up the escalator. He couldn’t scent them from this far away, but only one of them screamed alpha, with his broad shoulders and brown hair in a buzz cut. The other two were lankier, and all three of them had casual posture as they kept looking back and forth between each other.

But Harry could _feel_ the way their eyes slid over to him when they thought he didn’t notice.

He reached the road platform and he immediately dialed Louis.

It rang three times before Louis picked up, and for a heartstopping moment Harry thought maybe… maybe Louis _wouldn’t_ answer the phone.

“What’s up, Haz?”

“Lou!” Harry said, out of breath. He looked down as he pushed his way out onto the sidewalk. “I’m picking up dinner and wanted to know if you’d eaten.”

Louis hummed in thought and it was music to Harry’s ears. “What were you going to get? I’ll take a fucking Tesco sandwich at this point to be completely honest.”

Harry looked around. He hadn’t fully thought of that yet. He spotted the three guys and immediately started to head in the opposite direction of them. He only took a few steps before he realized he was going to pass his favorite Japanese restaurant. “Sushi?”

Louis groaned. “Fucking sushi.”

“I can get you pork katsu. I know you can’t say no to that.”

“Fine. I’ll take some katsu.”

Harry turned the corner and immediately felt like it was a mistake. Kumos was on a side street, less populated than the main road. But he was already going this way. He just needed to keep Louis on the phone with him until he made it to the restaurant. “How was your day? Did your final lab go okay?”

“It was a mess but I got a result at least. I’m done grading one of my class’s papers though, so that’s put me ahead of the curve.” Louis continued to prattle on about his classes and it was more comforting than Harry wanted to admit.

There were footsteps behind him, but it was okay. He was only a few feet away from the restaurant after all, and Louis was on the phone with him.

Harry stepped into Kumos. The group of three men passed him by without an incident and he let out a breath.

“I’m about to order, so I’ll be home in about twenty minutes?” Harry interrupted Louis in the middle of him talking about how he was thinking of changing his thesis again. “And please don’t change your thesis before I get home. You do want to graduate next semester don’t you?”

Louis laughed. “Sure, love. Whatever you say.”

Harry smiled at the nickname as he hung up and turned to his favorite host so he could place his to-go order.


	6. Chapter 6

Louis snuggled closer to Harry, dropping kisses on his neck and shoulder. Harry had been jittery when he got home in that way where it manifested as over excitement. Louis could practically smell the anxiety and heat coming off of him, and despite his best desire to distance himself from Harry in light of his maybe realization he was feeling some sort of way about Harry up and moving to Scotland, he found himself putting a steadying hand on the back of Harry’s neck and guiding him towards their couch.

After they’d eaten Harry had dragged him to cuddle in his room, much cleaner than Louis’ own room, and also heavy with Harry’s heat scent. Louis pet him to calm him down, wondering idly if Harry would even make it through the beginning of next week before his heat started.

“Have you put in your heat request?” He asked, focusing on Harry’s heartbeat, and not how wonderful he smelled.

Harry shook his head, burrowing himself against Louis and into the pillows at the same time. “I turned in my notice though. Was nerve wrecking as fuck.”

Louis’ stomach dropped out and he tried to ignore it. _Well, it was official._ Harry was leaving. He hid his thoughts in Harry’s neck, pressing more kisses to the bare skin. “But you did it.”

“I did. All by myself,” Harry said. Louis could hear him pouting and he wondered why.

He kissed his neck again. “Are you feeling better now that you’re home?”

“Yeah,” Harry breathed. “Really glad.” Louis hummed in thought, focusing on the way Harry’s scent was shifting. He smelled wonderful and fertile even with his birth control. Louis found himself thinking about how this heat would go, dipping more into his alpha headspace than he’d normally like. But he was _so close_ to being done with the semester, and even though he wouldn’t truly get a break over the winter holidays because of his thesis he could enjoy himself, as long as Harry’s heat didn’t start like… right this second.

“Think I was being followed,” He heard Harry say and he froze.

“Wait, back up. What?” Louis pulled his head out of Harry’s neck and looked up at him.

It was dark and hard to see Harry’s face except for the outline so he had no idea what Harry looked like in this moment.

“I was saying the ride home was worse, cause I think I was being followed.”

“Why would you think that?” Louis demanded, mind racing, and protective instincts kicking in.

He felt Harry shrug. “Just felt like I was being watched on the tube. And then there was this group of guys who seemed to follow me off the train, but I’m pretty sure I’m just… stressed or something.”

Harry laughed and god did Louis want to join in on that laugh, but he _couldn’t_. Not when his mind was going back to the letter from his family that he’d thrown out the moment he’d gotten home without ever reading. It wasn’t like they’d just break their almost decade long silence for no good reason. Something must have happened, maybe a falling out, or- Louis didn’t even know. He hadn’t been involved in so long, he had no idea what kind of shifts could have happened while he was gone.

“I’ve got an insane imagination though, don’t I?” Harry said, interrupting Louis’ thoughts.

He stroked Harry’s cheek, getting an idea of the distance between them so when he leaned forward he didn’t immediately mash their faces together. He kissed Harry tenderly, coaxing him into something deeper as he shifted his body against Harry’s.

They broke for air with a gasp and Louis got out, “nothing bad will _ever_ happen to you as long as I’m around,” before he was diving back in for another kiss.

Harry moaned against him. “Love it when you get protective.” He said as Louis left his lips to kiss down his neck. “But I know. It’s why I called you. Nothing bad can happen if you’re with me.”

“You’re ridiculous,” Louis said. He tilted his head to the side, letting Harry suck a mark onto his neck, close to the collar bone. Harry always got clingy like this before his heat, but if that wasn’t enough for Louis to know how close he was, the next words from Harry’s mouth confirmed it.

“Alpha, knot me.” It was framed as a whiny omega request, just the kind of thing Louis’ alpha side loved to hear. Harry always made a mockery of it during Louis’ rut to get his blood boiling but this. This one was a genuine plea, placed right along his sensitive neck.

Harry nibbled his way up to Louis’ ear. “Alpha,” he pleaded again.

“Ridiculous,” Louis repeated as he climbed on top of Harry.

Maybe if he covered Harry in his scent no one would dare to mess with him.

_Or maybe they’d get the wrong idea,_ a small part of his mind whispered, but Louis ignored that.

He wasn’t going to think that when Harry was warm and begging underneath him.

They fumbled in the dark, removing each other’s clothes while still trying to kiss and touch each other as much as possible. And once they were naked Louis fell forward, rubbing himself against Harry’s body. Getting his scent everywhere.

His cock was rutting near Harry’s hip, smearing pre-come over his bare skin. Louis wasn’t in a hurry to stop getting Harry messy, but Harry clearly had other ideas.

Louis gasped as Harry reached down and grasped his cock, guiding it to where he wanted it.

“Impatient tonight,” Louis breathed out as he felt Harry line the tip of his cock up against his cunt, so slick and hot. 

“Told you, alpha, wanted your knot.” Harry arched his hips and pushed himself up, taking all of Louis’ cock. “Now fuck me. Don’t make me do all the work.”

Louis’ eyes were squeezed shut as he grabbed hold of Harry’s hips. He was almost fully inside Harry, cock surrounded by wet warmth. It was so easy to push himself entirely inside Harry, rolling his hips to give Harry a little extra sensation before he was pulling back.

“Yes,” Harry hissed. “Fuck me. Need it so bad.”

His scent was surrounding Louis. It didn’t help that they were in Harry’s room, but it wouldn’t have been much better anywhere else. Louis tried not to let it consume him but it was hard. He felt warm, like he did close to his rut. And fuck was that only a couple weeks ago? He felt like he was moments away from sinking back into it.

Harry was chanting beneath him, begging him not to stop. Of course Louis wasn’t going to stop. Not when he had a willing omega begging for his knot. Not when he was about to give the willing omega his knot.

Harry came first, squirting come in between them, making a mess. Louis surged forward so when he knot caught inside Harry he was as deep as possible. So his come had no chance of leaking out.

Harry moaned underneath him, sounding satisfied. He tugged Louis down, giving him another kiss, this one much more chaste.

“Thank you, Alpha.”

Louis couldn’t help but chuckle as he returned the kiss. “You’re welcome, Omega.” He could feel Harry preening underneath him, squirming in happiness on his knot. “Don’t forget to put in your heat request tomorrow.”

Harry hummed in response. Louis could tell him was already starting to drift off.

***

Once he was sure Harry was asleep Louis climbed out of bed. He’d thrown the envelope out yesterday but there was a chance it was still there. He needed to see what his family had sent him. He was kicking himself over the fact he’d ignored it. They could have sent a warning or something, telling him people were looking for him, and he’d just… ignored it.

And in ignoring it he’d possibly endangered Harry.

He opened the cupboard they kept the rubbish bin in and closed his eyes in frustration. It was empty. Harry must have taken it out. Louis wasn’t going to go dumpster diving for the envelope. He rubbed his face as he padded back to Harry’s room and climbed back into bed.

After finals were done tomorrow he’d call home.


	7. Chapter 7

“Lou! Come look at these,” Harry called from his room as he heard the door open. Louis had spent the entire day at school, helping his students with their last minute deadlines (midnight tonight) and working on his own finals paper. But Louis coming home marked the end of a successful (if not stressful) semester. Harry could see the lack of tension in his shoulders, and how relaxed it made him look.

Louis dropped his bag and collapsed onto the couch, curling up against Harry. “Semester. Over. Well basically. I have grades to submit and my thesis is still not even at a first draft but, the semester is over.”

“I’ll take you out to drinks tonight?” Harry asked. “My treat?”

Louis yawned as he checked his phone for the time. It was almost ten at night, but their go-to would still be open. “Sure. I won’t shower yet then. But only one drink. I still have to get up in the morning.”

“No repeat of last semester then?” Harry had maybe encouraged Louis to drink way past his limit, to the point he’d been so drunk he just slept for twelve whole hours. (Or passed out, as Louis tended to tell the story)

“No,” Louis said, his head rolling to the side to look at the computer screen. “So what am I looking at?”

Harry rubbed his finger over the mousepad so Louis could see the website. “Flats! Leah was nice enough to point me in a good direction for flat hunting. I might sublet for a bit before getting the right flat of course, but I’m glad to start looking.” He scrolled through a couple listings.

“Are you going to get a roommate?” Louis asked, his voice sounding… off.

Harry gave him a weird look. “No. It’s why I’m thinking of subletting to start. I’m going to try and get up to Edinburgh soon though, maybe on my next two days off, which I think is next week some time.”

“What about your heat?”

“You didn’t let me finish,” Harry said patiently. “You should come with me, and we can spend my heat up in Edinburgh before going to see my mum for Christmas.”

Louis was silent for a long moment, and Harry continued to click through flats. He wanted to be sure he’d have enough space for both of them. Two bedroom definitely, though if they could have space for Louis to have a proper office that would be perfect. Harry didn’t know for sure what Louis’ budget would be as a professor, or working research for a university, so he was trying to make sure the flats were close to his own budget, so Louis wouldn’t need to worry.

“You want me to come look at flats with you?” Louis asked.

“Course.” _There,_ Harry thought. Louis was finally getting it and understanding that Harry wasn’t leaving. “I care about your opinion a lot, obviously.”

Louis was quiet again, as he looped his arms around Harry’s. “Have I told you recently how much I love you?”

Harry smiled. “Not without it being tied directly to how well I take your knot.”

Louis snorted. “I’m gonna miss you, Haz.”

“I’ll miss you too, but Lou. This is a _good_ thing, yeah? New future. New us.” Harry looked down at him, curled around his arm. Louis rarely showed off his vulnerability like this, so Harry knew what a gift it was to be witnessing this.

He’d never take it for granted.

“New future,” Louis repeated. “That’s one way to put it. I like that one flat. I think it’s very you.” He unhooked himself long enough to point at the flat he was talking about.

It was a two bedroom flat that looked to be one unit inside a detached house. The pictures made it seem like it was a bit bigger than their current flat, and there was even a private garden off to the side.

“I like it too. I’ll put in a request to visit it yeah? And we’ll go see it?” Louis nodded. “Great. Now come on, let’s get you your drinks.”


	8. Chapter 8

Louis had had grand plans for his first day off after the semester. He was going to organize his papers, clean his room, do laundry, do a full cart grocery trip, call home, and generally wipe his life slate clear so he could finish the year organized and clean. Instead he’d woken up naked next to Harry, who smelled delicious, and made even more delicious sounds when Louis’d sleeplily reached down and cupped his cock.

“Lou,” Harry had whined - and well that was that, wasn’t it? He couldn’t be expected to get out of bed when in his bed was this.

So now several hours later he’d knotted Harry three times, gotten his sheets filthy, and ordered take away instead of going out and doing the adult things he’d planned. And that was fine, he decided, as Harry curled up against his shoulder, drifting between wakefulness and sleep. He deserved this as a chance to unwind.

“So I think next weekend we’ll head up to Edinburgh?” Harry muttered. “Friday night?”

Louis stroked his fingers up and down Harry’s back as he thought. He didn’t want to go up to Edinburgh. He wanted to stay here, like this, him and Harry never changing from what they have. Never having the chance to grow apart.

He knew it wasn’t possible though and he needed to accept the change. He could do this. He’d always been good at adapting to life, and what he wanted from it. It’s a trait that had gotten him this far. He dropped a kiss on Harry’s forehead.

“Yeah, sure. Stay there for your heat?”

Harry hummed, sounding happy. “Yes.”

Louis held in his sigh as he closed his eyes. He wasn’t fully ready to move on from this. Harry had been a consistent in his life for so many years now… 

They’d met through mutual friends one night almost eight years ago. Louis was still an undergrad, living off campus with a couple of alphas he’d met through the uni’s facebook page, while Harry was a fresh face in London using his free time to volunteer at an animal shelter when he wasn’t taking classes.

They’d hit it off almost immediately, sharing a sense of humor, as well as general biology knowledge even with their differences in plant life versus animals. Louis had felt drawn to the omega immediately, and he’d known it was something that was mutual, but when they’d stumbled out of the pub together Harry had put his hand on Louis’ chest before anything could happen and with glassy drunk eyes said, “I’m not looking for anything serious right now.”

Louis had blinked. He wasn’t either. “So I won’t knot you?”

“No. I mean. I don’t want something casual, but I’m not looking for anything serious right now. So this,” he had gestured between the two of them, “this isn’t going to happen.” Louis had watched while Harry swallowed. Clearly it was taking a lot out of him to say these words. “Please don’t be a knothead about this.” Harry’s voice had wavered then, pleading with Louis to be understanding.

Louis’d wondered how many times Harry had had to end a relationship before it could properly take off because the alpha couldn’t handle a simple barrier. It wasn’t like it would be hard to just… not fuck Harry when he didn’t want to.

Louis had shrugged. “You want food? Food will do both of us well.”

Harry had lit up and that was that. Boundaries established. Their entire relationship was built around the idea that Harry had _plans_ and goals. He was going to save the animal world one broken wing at a time and Louis definitely wasn’t going to get in his way about it.

Especially when he had his own reasons for not wanting to have a mate. He had his own plans and goals, things he wanted to do with his life for himself that taking a mate would put a damper on.

And when they’d actually started sleeping together they’d just shifted the boundaries, hammering them out as much as they could before Harry’d succumbed to his heat. It didn’t mean anything. It would never mean anything. They were just helping each other get through their heats and ruts faster so they could go back to what was truly important. Their careers.

Louis heard Harry let out a little snore and it snapped him back to the present. He shifted, looking down and admiring how peaceful Harry looked while he was sleeping. He couldn’t helped but cup Harry’s chin lightly, stroking his thumb over his cheek.

“I’m gonna miss you, so much.”


	9. Chapter 9

Heats were fickle bastards. The actual defined heat only “started” when the omega’s body temperature hit fever-level, or 100.4F. At that point an omega’s body was primed for ovulation and then conception and their cognitive abilities deteriorated. What this did not take into consideration was the pre-heat lead up, where an omega’s body was beginning to heat up, and the effects that caused not only on their physical limitations but on their own rational thinking. Especially when pre-heat could easily begin two weeks before the actual “heat” peaked. The defined heat period also did not take into account the crash that came after a heat, where an omega would need time to recover from their fever, and heat. Something that could last an extra week. All in all this meant that while the “heat” typically lasted a week if you didn’t have someone to help you through it, omegas suffered through heat like symptoms for almost a month.

So while most jobs allowed heat leave, they only allowed it for the time heat was actually occurring. Which was why Harry was boiling under his jacket as he made his way to the tube station to get to work. He almost hadn’t worn it but Louis was home and in full alpha protective mode so he hadn’t let Harry leave the flat without being bundled up.

“I know you’re warm, baby,” Louis said, stroking his damp hair as Harry shifted under his coat. “But it’s still chilly outside and you just showered.”

“You’re being clucky, and it’s unfortunately very attractive right now,” Harry pouted.

Louis’ eyes crinkled as he laughed. With finals over he was clearly feeling much better. It probably helped that he was getting over his post-rut drain. “I’m always very attractive. But you saying it certainly strokes my ego. I’m gonna run by the store today and get groceries so we actually can make dinner or something.”

“I think you mean I can make dinner,” Harry said as he gathered the rest of his things and headed for the door. “I’ll text you on my way home. Have a good day.”

Which lead him to walking outside, bundled up even though he was sweating. And his heat wasn’t even fully started yet. Sometimes it made Harry want to cry in frustration.

He kicked a rock as he made his way up to the tube entrance. It was beginning to get crowded with commuters making their way to work in the morning and so Harry barely registered someone bumping into him, pushing him back. He did however notice when it happened a second time, a man knocking into his shoulder so hard he almost went off balance. Harry stumbled and turned around to demand what was his problem when a third person pushed him entirely off balance. He went crashing to his knees and he groaned in pain.

And then there was a hand under his armpit, lifting him up.

“Thanks, mate,” Harry said, looking up at who had helped him as he got back to his feet. He frowned as he registered the face. Recognized the face. It was the shaven alpha from the other day. His shock lasted long enough that he didn’t realize he was being physically dragged to the curb. He started to struggle but it was too late. Someone was behind him as he was being shoved into the backseat of a car – and how did no one walking by not notice something happening?

Was he not struggling enough?

He finally worked up the ability to scream just as the backdoor was shut, locking him in the car with the alpha. He scrambled for the door handle. It was locked and refused to budge even as he slammed his shoulder against it.

Fucking pre-heat fever.

The car pulled away from the curb, making its way down the street.

“Calm down,” the alpha next to him said, putting a hand on his shoulder. “We aren’t going to hurt you.”

Panic spiked through Harry’s body as he smacked the hand away. _Not going to hurt him, my arse_ Harry thought, looking the alpha up and down, memorizing his face so he could say who exactly it was who took him. “Let me go,” he said, voice trembling.

His hand was still on the door handle even though he had a feeling it was useless. Clearly he’d been targeted and this was planned. He risked sliding his eyes to the front seat, where the other two men were sitting. He couldn’t see who was driving but the passenger turned his head to look back at him and Harry swallowed. He was absolutely the most gorgeous man Harry had ever seen – and that said something considering he lived with Louis. But this man was classically gorgeous, with jet black hair styled casually, and the beginnings of a beard.

_Another alpha_ , his nose finally picked up.

There were two alphas in the car with him. He didn’t want to scent too strong to find out he was with three alphas, on the cusp on his fucking heat.

“There, there,” the alpha next to him said, as Harry slowly dropped his hand from the car door. “See. It’s okay. We just wanted to meet you.”

Harry’s mind was racing. What the hell did they mean? You know what, it didn’t matter. He moved slow, knowing his phone was in his jacket pocket. He was pretty confident he could call Louis one handed.

He didn’t get very far before the beautiful alpha in the front seat seemed to notice what he was doing.

“Liam, take his phone.”

Harry wasn’t prepared to be tackled back against the door as the alpha tried to stop him. His phone clattered out of his pocket as Harry tried to defend himself. He was strong – had to be because of his job – but the brute strength this alpha had overpowered him quickly, shoving his body awkwardly into the seat of the car.

A third voice cut through the struggle. “Fucking knock him out or something. You’re causing a fucking scene.”

The last thing Harry heard before it went dark was the alpha saying, “sorry about this.”

***

His head was pounding when he came too. He tried to reach up and pet it but when he moved his right arm his left immediately followed. He swallowed and cracked an eye open. It was still light out, and he was still in the backseat of the car, but his hands were bound in front of him.

His heart started to beat frantically. He tried to steady it, all too aware that the alphas in the car might be able to smell his worry, along with his heat. He glanced to the side to see the man sitting next to him wasn’t either of the alphas he’d seen before. It must have been the driver – the one who told the alpha to knock him out. Harry took in his profile, youthful but handsome, but couldn’t get a read on his scent. A beta then. Before he knew it the beta was looking at him, and a smile was lighting up his face.

“You’re awake. Sorry about having Liam do that, but we couldn’t have you drawing attention to us.” The beta’s smile slipped a little as Harry kept his mouth shut, eyes casting down to his bond wrists. “Oh. Well, you’re also a fighter, and I don’t feel like getting clocked so… sorry about the wrist ties.”

The beta seemed… sympathetic, and truly sorry. Which was odd for a kidnapper. Harry’s mind was kicking into overdrive, full survival mode on. He refused to look up, instead trying to take into consideration his surroundings. They were driving now, far out of the city, with nothing but rolling hills and fields. He couldn’t see his phone on the ground where it had dropped, so that was a no go. And oh yeah, he was still fucking sweating.

The first whine wasn’t intentional, but he saw the way it got the beta and the passenger alpha to look at him, so he made sure the next one was just as pathetic.

The beta’s eyes went wide, looking at the beautiful passenger alpha. “What? What’s the matter?”

“He’s close to heat you dumbass,” Passenger Alpha answered easily, even as he looked Harry up and down. “He’s probably sweating in that coat.”

“Should I? Should I remove it?” The beta looked at him. “Do you need me to take off your coat?”

Harry nodded, happy that there was sweat on his brow to sell how uncomfortable he was pretending to be. The beta started to remove his coat and then seemed to realize that with his cuffed hands he’d never be able to get it off. The beta frowned, looked at the passenger alpha who gestured him to get on with it.

“I’m gonna remove your cuffs okay? But you won’t try and fight me, right?”

Harry shook his head as he whined, offering his hands over to the beta so he could remove them. He let out a shaky breath as the beta worked to undo the cuff, steeling himself for what he was about to do next.

The cuffs came off and Harry flexed his fingers, feeling blood rush through his wrists. He looked into the blue eyes of the beta – not all that lighter than Louis’ eyes really.

“Better?” The beta asked, reaching to help Harry get his coat off.

Harry bashed his head forward, aiming for the beta’s nose.

Someone screamed, and Harry went blind for a moment. Even though he’d hit a softer part of the head, there was still a ringing in his ears from smacking his head against a skull.

“What the fuck!” The beta screamed.

“What are you- holy fuck.”

Chaos started to overtake the car.

“Liam pull over!”

The car swerved immediately and the driver swore. “Fuck, Zayn why aren’t you helping?”

“I’m helping by telling you to pull over!”

“My fucking nose! He broke my fucking nose!”

“That’s _not_ helpful!”

Harry’s headache was fading and his fingers were frantic at the door handle as he tried to focus enough through his panic to pull at the lock button, so when he tried the door again it actually clicked open. The car was slowing down as the driver pulled over, and the passenger kept repeating to the beta, “Fucks sake, Niall, grab him. Worry about your nose later.”

“Fuck off!”

Harry tried to judge if it was slow enough yet for it to be safe to jump, but he knew he didn’t have a lot of time before one of them grabbed him. He checked to see that the car was on the side of the road, slowing down still before he threw caution to the wind. He held his breath as he jumped out of the car, praying it wouldn’t hurt more than falling off a horse as a kid. He tucked his head down, wincing as his hands got scraped up from the gravel at the side of the road. His coat was probably fucked but the layers at least helped him from getting cut up.

He was breathing hard from adrenaline as he tried to scramble to his feet. The cold air of the outside was a shock and he was sore but he needed to get away. He didn’t know where he was, except he was on a road that didn’t seem to have many cars on it. He took off full speed towards the grass that lined the road, hoping the alphas would just give up or something.

No such luck.

The air was punched out of him as he was tackled to the ground. He skid through the grass as weight settled above him, and before he could fight back strong hands were grabbing hold of his forearms and securing them tightly behind his back.

His traitorous pre-heat body recognized the hold he was in, but he screamed to ignore it.

“Let! Go of me!”

“Stay still! And calm down! Fucking Tommo just _had_ to have a conniving, feisty mate didn’t he? Fucking typical.” It was the original alpha who’d grabbed him. Liam.

And then Harry processed his words.

But before he could react he was struck again, and blacked out.


	10. Chapter 10

Louis hummed anxiously and tried not to look at the clock. It was nearing ten at night and dinner was cold. He’d texted Harry at seven asking if a spicy ground beef taco sounded okay for dinner, and when he’d gotten no response he’d assumed Harry was in an emergency and couldn’t get to the phone. So he made up the ground beef.

At eight, while it was simmering to stay warm on the stove top, Louis turned his phone on and off to see if maybe a text or missed voicemail got stuck in the ether of phone land.

At nine Louis checked the zoo’s social media to see if they mentioned anything special about today, and then checked Harry’s google calendar to see if he’d put something in that Louis had missed.

Long hours were typical as a vet, and with so many animals at the zoo different things could happen at any point in time, and it was Harry’s job to be there immediately.

Still… usually he at least texted Louis. He knew Louis got worried, and especially with his heat coming up…

That was the thought that finally had Louis going to his phone and dialing the Vet’s office number. It rang four times before going to voicemail. He frowned, thought about it for a minute, and then pulled up the number for Michelle, Harry’s supervisor.

It rang twice before she answered, sounding confused. “Hello?”

“Hey, it’s Louis- Harry’s roommate,” Louis said, hoping he sounded confident. “I was just trying to reach him?”

“Harry didn’t come in today?”

“What?” Louis asked, “Why didn’t anyone call-“ but she was already talking over him.

“He’d put in his heat request so he’s probably started that. Maybe he’s checked into a clinic?”

“No. He’s not.” Louis said, voice firm. “He left for work this morning and he wasn’t that close to his heat. He would have made it in to work at the very least.”

She sighed. “You never know what can trigger a heat. Could happen whenever. You should try calling his regular clinic.”

Louis grit his teeth. It wasn’t Harry’s supervisor’s business to know Harry didn’t go to _clinics_. “Thanks. I’ll do that.”

He hung up. And then he started to panic.

“Fuck, shit, fuck, fuck, shit,” he mumbled as he paced up and down the tiny living room. He called Harry’s phone again but it went straight to voice mail.

“Hello. You’ve reached the voicemail of Harry Styles. If this is a vet emergency please hang up and dial-“

Louis hung up and covered his face with his hands. “Fuck. Fuck.”

He was _positive_ Harry hadn’t started his heat early but he dialed the closest clinic anyway.

“Hello, I’m looking to see if an omega checked in this morning,” Louis said after the receptionist picked up.

“I’m sorry, due to confidentiality we do not give out patient information.”

_Right. Good practice._ Louis thought. _But incredibly unhelpful._

“I understand but listen, my roommate was about a week into pre-heat when he left for work this morning, and he ended up not showing up for work. I’m worried about him, and I just need to know if it’s possible he started his heat and made it to a clinic or if…” Louis swallowed, darkness taking over his thoughts. “If something else happened.”

He heard the silence from the receptionist loud and clear. “I’m very sorry, but we cannot give out patient information.”

Louis’ voice went slightly higher with panic. “What if I come by? I just. I just need to know yes or no. His name is Harry-“

“I’m sorry. I understand, but we cannot make exceptions.” She cut him off coolly and professionally, and then she hung up on him.

“Fuck!” Louis said throwing his phone across the room. It slid on the carpeted floor and he didn’t even care. It was in a case. It wasn’t like he could crack it more. He buried his face in his hands and he tried to breathe.

He tried to _think_ but all there was, was panic, and worry, and _oh god Harry had said he’d been followed and Louis hadn’t_ done anything. He’d promised Harry that nothing bad would happen to him as long as Louis was around and now something probably had. He scrambled up off the couch and for his phone.

He should have made this phone call immediately, but instead he’d allowed himself to get wrapped up Harry’s pre-heat. He was a horrible friend, and now who knew what was happening to Harry.

He didn’t have his home number saved in his phone, but he remembered the manor’s number from childhood.

“Tomlinson residence, may I ask who’s calling?”

Louis shut his eyes. He hadn’t heard it in a decade but that was Paddy’s voice. Paddy was still employed there, answering phones and being a general butler then. “Paddy, it’s Louis. Can I speak with my mother?”


	11. Chapter 11

Harry was in a dark room when he came too. His head was pounding and he was laying on a soft mattress. He fumbled around in the dark before his hand hit the bedside table and he found a tiny lamp. He flicked it on, and had to slam his eyes shut for a moment before they adjusted.

He opened them carefully after a moment and took in his surroundings. The room was … different than he expected, decorated like something out of a museum. He was in a four poster bed that had what looked like dark red velvet drapes pushed back. The furniture in the room was ornate, dark wood carved in frankly outlandish styles that Harry was pretty sure his grandmother would love. There was nothing that looked particularly modern in the room. The one piece of technology seemed to be a call system installed in the wall by one of the doors.

Harry climbed out of bed and went to the window. He had to push back the gauzy curtains and gasped as he looked out into the darkness. The light from the house only extended so far but he could see all that surrounded him - and the place he was held - was a massive garden.

He could only imagine how far the garden extended. He peered down, noting how high up he was. They weren’t keeping him locked in a dungeon it seemed. More like a tower.

He glanced back at the door. Was he actually locked in? More than likely. His means of escape would be out the window then. He looked for a place to crack it open but his attention was pulled away by the door opening. He immediately tensed up as he recognized the beta from the car, and he tried desperately to blend in with the curtains. The beta spotted him as he shut the door with his foot – his hands were full with a tray of food – and he froze.

“Shit you’re awake.”

Harry tried to shrink back further.

“Just. Stay over there while I put this tray down. We don’t need any more broken bones.”

Harry finally registered the tape that the beta was wearing on his face, covering his nose. He vaguely remembered there being shouting about a broken nose while he tried to escape but he hadn’t realized _he’d_ been the one to cause that. He swallowed, more than happy to stay as far away as possible from one of his kidnappers. The beta set the tray on the bedside table, and Harry had to admit his stomach rumbled when he saw the spread laid out. It matched the opulence of the room and he _was_ starving.

The beta scrambled back towards the door but didn’t leave. “You’re free to eat. Alpha Tomlinson wants to make sure you aren’t starving since you’re so close to heat.”

Harry’s eyes narrowed. _Who the fuck was Alpha Tomlinson and what the fuck kind of name was that?_ Had someone just named their child that because they thought it would be cool? Harry felt bad for any child raised with that name.

He did not come closer to the food.

The beta did not leave.

They were at a stand still, until Harry finally broke.

“Who the hell are you?” He gripped the curtain tighter to hide his shaking hands. “Where am I?”

For some reason that caused the beta’s face to light up. “I’m sorry. I’m Niall, and you’re at Cannon Hall, home of the Tomlinson Pack.”

Harry narrowed his eyes. _Pack_? Packs didn’t exist anymore. They were archaic relics from before proper towns and shit. They only existed now in fantasy books, and the fucking nobles. He glanced back around the room, frowning. Well this _did_ seem like a … noble type house. Enough to have its own name and everything.

His lack of reaction to Niall’s proclamation caused some of his jubilance to fade as he just continued to watch Harry. Harry had a feeling that the words he just said were supposed to mean something to him, and the fact they didn’t confused Niall.

“Why am I here?”

This question seemed to right Niall, at least for the moment, because the smile was back. “Well you’re Tommo’s mate aren’t you?”

_Great_ , he’d been confused for some alpha’s mate. Absolutely wonderful. He vaguely recalled someone saying that before they tackled him to the ground, but Harry could not for the life of him figure out who he’d been confused for. He was hesitant to correct Niall. His mind was running through all he could remember about packs. Most of it was fictional, drawn from romance novels he’d read in his spare time, or movies he’d watched. Louis wasn’t keen on that specific trope though so since moving in with him Harry had weaned himself off of period dramas and the like. It had been no skin off his back, except now he couldn’t really remember much about fictional pack dynamics.

From what he remembered packs put a lot of weight on mating, and bonding. It was how the pack continued to prosper after all. Most matings were pre-arranged, to make sure that the blood line stayed pure. There was usually drama involving outsiders marrying in, but from the look on Niall’s face this didn’t seem to be the case. No, he seemed delighted that this Tommo character had a mate, despite the fact that he’d taken part in kidnapping Harry. Maybe this was part of the mating ritual? Tommo was expected to come find him? Track him down by scent or something otherwise ridiculous.

Harry’s head was spinning.

He let go of the curtain and took a step towards the bed, and the food. The best he could gather is that being confused for this person’s mate was a good thing. There was a good chance they wouldn’t harm him if they continued to think he was their relative’s mate. He got close enough to the tray of food and carefully picked up a grape from the “cheese board” section of the tray.

“Is,” he paused, trying to figure out the most natural way to ask this. “Do you know when my alpha will be here?” That’s how mated omegas talked right? Ones who were parts of packs and royalty and on the cusp of heat.

Niall seemed to buy it at least, because he was nodding. “Yeah, he called already looking for you. He’s driving up to come see you.”

Harry didn’t know whether to sag in relief or tense up. His charade was on a clock then. Who knew where this alpha was coming from. Harry chewed on a piece of cheese wrapped in meat as he thought. “Can I have my phone? I want to speak to him.” He wasn’t going to call this alpha, but maybe he’d get a chance to call Louis, and tell him what happened. Louis would be able to get him out.

Niall’s lip quirked. “Oh. Your phone. We may have smashed it. Not on purpose!” He was quick to add. “But in like the shuffle of everything we dropped it once inside the car, and then when we pulled over after we got out of London Zayn dropped it out on the road.”

“It was in a case though.”

“Okay in our defense, you did give Liam quite the scratched eye. And you broke my nose. I’m sure Tommo can get you a new one.”

_Tommo_ wasn’t buying him shit, and Harry was running out of time with this strange alpha rushing up here thinking he was going to find his omega when really it was just Harry. A giant misunderstanding. He huffed as he bit into a tiny triangle sandwich, feeling the chasm of class divide quite clearly. Who honestly served tiny sandwiches for an actual meal and not just to pretend to be cute at a tea party?

“Do you need anything else?” Niall asked. Harry shook his head, mind swirling with what to do next. “There’s a bath in through that door. Feel free to soak or whatever you need. And if you need someone you can call down to them with that phone.”

Harry looked at where he was pointing and his stomach sunk even more. That phone would be a life saver if it weren’t for the fact he didn’t know Louis’ number – or anyone’s number. Niall shut him back in the room, and Harry heard the lock slide into place.

_Looks like I’m waiting._


	12. Chapter 12

Louis was too angry to drive, but he was also too angry to wait for any car his mum had said she’d send. This left him storming out of his flat in search of a car rental place that would let him have a car on such short notice. It was valuable time wasted but he’d rather be doing something for two hours than sitting at home waiting to get picked up like a damn pup.

It was well past midnight before he got on the road and from there it was a silent, hellish, three and a half hours back to his childhood home. In the dark of the night Louis couldn’t even enjoy the drive into the manor, passed the trees and bushes that his grandparents and great grandparents had tended to over the years, and now his mum took pride in. Not that he would have. He hadn’t thought about coming home in so many years he couldn’t even begin to think how else he would have liked to returned. Though truly, this was the worst way. Seething mad because his family had overstepped their boundaries.

_What had they been_ thinking?! Was the only thing repeating over and over again in Louis’ mind. He pulled all the way up the drive, parking right in front of the big manor doors. He climbed out of the car and rushed the door, checking that it was locked before he started banging on it. He didn’t care that it was just four in the morning. He would wake the whole damn estate up if it meant getting Harry back.

The front door clicked and Paddy appeared, looking more put together than Louis was expecting for the time. Then again, he probably had heard Louis was on his way back.

“Master Tomlinson,” Paddy said.

It took all of Louis’ will to bite back the _fuck off_ , and instead growl out, “where is he?”

The fact that one of his childhood handlers didn’t immediately roll his eyes made Louis feel slightly better. If they’d gone and done this _and_ treated him like a child on top of it… there would be words. “He’s up in your old room.”

Louis shoved passed Paddy, unable to stop himself from calling out Harry’s name as he made his way through the foyer and up the stairs.

“Harry!” He called, following memory and his own nose. Harry hadn’t been here long enough to get his scent anywhere, but his heat was familiar enough that Louis could pick it out anywhere. “Harry!” He turned down the corridor where the family rooms began and he heard a loud banging.

“Fucking hell,” he swore, realizing they’d locked Harry inside. Didn’t trust him to wander then.

He growled as he undid the lock to the door Harry was behind and then he was shoving as Harry was pulling and they went tumbling into each other.

“Louis! You found me,” Harry gasped as he threw his arms around Louis’ shoulders.

Louis could smell the saltiness of tears in the air and it only raised his hackles more. He squeezed Harry tight, unable to let go just yet. “Of course I did.”

Harry hiccough around a sob and it broke Louis’ heart. He needed to pull back so he could examine Harry, make sure whoever had taken him hadn’t hurt him, but letting go was so hard, especially as Harry continued to shake in his arms.

“I was so scared,” Harry whispered. “I didn’t know what to do, and they broke my phone so I couldn’t call you.”

“It’s okay, it’s okay. I’m here now.” Louis finally was able to lift Harry’s head up so he could look him over. There were no bruises on his face, just redness from the crying. “Hey, it’s gonna be okay.” Harry nodded. “I got you.”

“You know, you didn’t have to make that dramatic of an entrance, Tommo,” the low drawl from behind him.

Harry jumped in his arms, and Louis whipped his head around, taking a moment to recognize the man standing there. He blinked. “Zayn.”

Zayn gave a salute. “One and only.”

Harry whined behind him and it made Louis freeze for just a moment, putting the pieces together. “It was you. You’re who took him.”

Zayn’s salute turned to an easy surrender of raised arms. “We were just following Alpha’s orders.”

That made Louis growl even more. “Yeah I fucking bet. Why didn’t you just come _talk to me_ like a normal person?”

“We tried,” Zayn said, voice patient. “But considering you never responded to our letter you didn’t leave us much choice.”

“ _One_ letter. You sent one letter,” Louis snapped.

“Would you have responded to more? We were on a deadline.”

“What do you mean a deadline?”

The air shifted around them as Louis’ mum stepped into view. He held his breath as he drank in the sight of her. She’d barely aged in the time he’d been gone, her hair still honey brown. The biggest change was the deepening of her laugh lines, and she looked almost serene as she stood there, gracefully elbowing her way into the doorframe. “Louis,” she said his name so lovingly. “You didn’t need to come right away. We weren’t going to hurt him.” A growl rumbled in Louis’ chest, but all it did was make his mother roll her eyes. “We _weren’t_. Your mate is the one who caused all the fuss. He scratched up Liam’s eye and broke Niall’s nose. It’s clear he can take care of himself.”

“Good,” Louis said before her words registered, but then the words hit him like a freight to the chest. _Mate_. Oh, no. They thought Harry was his mate. Suddenly his mum’s actions made sense. He needed to fix this immediately, before it spiraled out of control.

Behind him Harry whimpered and squeezed his hand. “Alpha, can you,” he trailed off, tugging on Louis’ hand.

Louis’ attention was immediately on Harry. Harry never called him _alpha_ seriously outside of heat, and so he made sure to give him another look over, cupping his chin so he could get a good look even in the dimness of the room. Harry was sweating and flushed red from the crying still, but he could see now that there were dark circles under his eyes. Louis cooed at him, pulling him close so he could drop a kiss to Harry’s forehead. “Have you slept at all?” Harry shook his head, but didn’t verbally answer. Louis sighed. “Come on, I’ll drive you home. You can sleep in the car, okay?”

Harry nodded, but his mum cleared her throat. “There’s no need for that, Louis. You’re already here, you might as well stay until the morning, get some sleep.”

Louis didn’t want to remind her it was almost morning. But she was right, and just her saying that reminded him that he’d been up for almost twenty-four hours. His body felt tired and heavy, but he wouldn’t give in yet. If Harry wanted to leave Louis would take him away. He stroked his thumb over Harry’s cheek. “We can still leave.”

He saw the hesitation in Harry’s eyes, the way he glanced over Louis’ shoulder before he slowly shook his head. “If you’re here it’s okay,” Harry finally whispered. “I wouldn’t want to keep you from your family.” That part sounded unsure, and the entire thing was out of character for how Harry normally acted and it made Louis’ heart clench. They’d probably traumatized the poor boy by kidnapping him the way they did.

“I’ll tuck you in bed,” Louis said, glancing back at his mum. Zayn had – understandably and rightfully – made himself scarce. He took a step towards the door, and her, hand still holding onto Harry’s. “Most people would have just called.”

She didn’t look bothered by his attempt at cold politeness. “Would you have answered?” She let the silence hang between them long enough to let it answer for Louis. “I just wanted to see you. You belong at home now.”

Louis grit his teeth. “We’ll talk about this in morning.” He shut the door, locking it from the inside this time so they couldn’t lock them in. He turned back to Harry, who was finally looking more relaxed. He ushered him backwards towards the bed, climbing on together still clothed.

They were quiet as they settled onto the mattress. Even though this was his old room they’d updated at least the bed in his absence, with a new mattress and sheets and blanket. Louis bundled Harry up in his arms and gave him another kiss on the forehead.

“Lou,” Harry said, voice slurred with sleep. “What’s going on?”

Louis closed his eyes. “We’ll talk about it in the morning. Go to sleep for now.”

He should have known Harry wouldn’t take that for an answer, because a moment later he was being pinched in the side. “No. Tell me now.”

He sighed. “It’s a long story. Just. Leave it for the morning.”

“At least tell me why they think I’m your mate, and why that matters.”

Louis snorted. “Well they probably think you’re my mate because you stink of me.” Harry hummed in thought, and Louis liked to imagine he was smiling. “And it matters because… I guess the short of it is I wasn’t allowed to come home until I had a mate.”

“Why?”

Louis sighed. “Part of the long story.”

“Is it because your family is a medieval pack?”

“That’s one way of looking at it, yeah.”

“Is that why you hate all those tv shows about packs?”

Louis rolled his eyes. “They’re so dumb, and dramatic.”

“Sounds perfectly normal to me if this is what packs are really like.” Harry yawned. “Young alpha banished until he finds a mate to bring home and inherit the throne for. Pretty sure that’s ninety percent of the plot of that one book series I read. You know the one. With the gold cover.”

“The Scarlet Scripture, yeah I know it.” Louis sighed. “I’ll get this all cleared up in the morning and we’ll be back in London around lunch, okay?”

Harry didn’t respond, and a few minutes later the room was filled with his soft snores.


	13. Chapter 13

It was light when Harry woke up, and he was warm pressed next to Louis. For a blissful moment he forgot where he was and what he was doing and just basked in Louis’ scent. That could only last so long though, and soon he was remembering what had brought him here, to this too soft mattress.

He opened his eyes and pushed himself up, looking around. The curtains weren’t enough to keep out the light and Harry felt drawn to checking to see just how far back the gardens went. But the bed was soft and Louis was warm.

Eventually the pull of needing to use the toilet was enough to draw him out of bed, and he made sure not to wake Louis as he did. Harry couldn’t hear any noise from within the house but then again, as he looked around him in the bathroom, and then the bedroom itself, the walls seemed sturdy and made of heavy woods. Sound probably didn’t travel very well.

He chewed on his bottom lip as he hesitated going back to bed. Louis was sound asleep still, and Harry had no idea what time it was, the light from outside not helping him. His curiosity got the best of him and he went back to the window, pulling the curtain back. It was grey outside, but he could see much further into the back garden now. It seemed to stretch for miles, though Harry could make out the trees that seemed to make up a natural border for the edge of the property – he assumed at least. With the light he could also appreciate how high up they were from the ground, and he was glad he hadn’t tried to escape through the window before Louis had shown up.

Hadn’t that been a surprise? He turned his head to look at Louis, curled up in the bed.

“What the actual fuck,” Harry whispered, unable to help himself.

Louis was some sort of… Prince? Lord? Titled person? Whatever he was he’d definitely been hiding something big from Harry their entire friendship. The thing that Harry couldn’t understand was the why.

Well… actually Harry had a guess as to why. His family - _pack_ \- seemed a trip, especially if they thought kidnapping random omegas was well within their rights just to what? Get Louis to come home for Christmas?

He sighed, heading back to the bed. He spotted Louis’ phone on the bedside table right before he climbed back in and he took the lifeline as he saw it. Louis hadn’t plugged it in so it was close to dead but it was enough that Harry could see that it was almost noon. They’d managed to get some decent rest then. He sat down on the edge of the bed and opened the browser so he could log into his emails.

Louis shifted behind him and threw an arm around his waist, face smushed into his back.

“Morning,” Harry said, placing his free hand over Louis’. Louis mumbled something that Harry took to mean “good morning” and he squeezed Louis’ hand. “Lou,” Harry said it patiently, as he put the phone down. He hadn’t gotten any emails from work asking about his absence and that only mildly annoyed him. “Lou, we need to talk.” He shifted as he said it and so he caught the grimace on Louis’ face as he pretended to stay asleep. He poked Louis’ cheek, releasing some of the tension. “Lou.”

“Too early.”

“It’s noon.”

“I feel like I’ve been hit by a bus.”

“I was knocked out twice by your family, and I jumped out of a moving car to try and escape. If anyone deserves to feel like they’ve hit by a bus it’s me.” He emphasized his words with another poke to Louis’ cheek.

Louis growled. It was different then any sound Harry had heard before from him. This one came from deep in Louis’ chest, and it was accompanied by his arm tightening around Harry’s waist. “Gonna _kill_ them.”

Harry froze, tucking himself down and as close to Louis as he could on top of the blankets. Louis’ voice was cold, and his words didn’t seem like an idle threat. Harry wondered how likely it was that Louis would go through with his threat. He had a terrifying moment where he didn’t even know Louis anymore, didn’t know what he was capable of. He was completely out of his depth, and didn’t know how to proceed. He cupped Louis’ face in his hands and that got Louis to open his eyes, finally.

The world made sense again as Harry looked into him and he shuffled his head closer. “Just. Tell me what’s going on, please?”

“It’s a long-“

“For fucks sake, Lou. If you tell me it’s a long story again I’m going to kill you myself. Alright fine. We’ll do the twenty questions things. What’s a pack?”

Louis sighed. “I don’t even – It’s just a family. Like a big, old family. Usually it’s got a mix of different bloodlines. We can trace our lineage back for a long time. Like this house was built in… fuck I think like 1080? The barebones of it was at least. And packs just sorta formed around big estates. Your place within the pack was usually dictated by your sex, so like if you were born an alpha you’d get a place of preference within the house, blah blah.”

“But there aren’t packs anymore.”

“Sure there are,” Louis snorted. “There’s plenty of them. Almost any old monied family you’ve heard of is a pack.”

“Well I don’t go around associating with _old monied families_ , so I didn’t know. So there _are_ packs and you’re from one.” Louis hummed in agreement. “And you’re like… a big deal within the pack?” He saw the way Louis started to look uncomfortable, but he pressed on. “You’re heir to the pack, aren’t you?”

Louis held his breath for a moment, and then let it out with a loud sigh. “Yeah. Yeah that’s the idea.”

“But you haven’t been home and taken over yet because? You’re too young? They respect your desire to finish school and pursue a career researching crop growth?”

Louis snorted. “Because I’m not mated.” Harry pressed his lips together. “You have to be mated to take over the pack. It’s tradition. When the heir gets old enough they’re allowed to go out into the world- okay so.” Louis sat up then, knocking Harry off his chest. “I grew up here, and by grew up here I mean I _rarely_ left the estate grounds. Like, mum took us shopping sometimes, or out and about, like I would go watch footie games, but pack life is really self-sustaining.” He frowned. “Isolating. I went to a school that was barely one step away from home school. All my friends are packmates: Zayn and that lot. We grew up together. Their parents are pack, and they are pack. So like, we don’t see much of the outside world. Rules are different in the pack. And so to make sure the alpha heir is well rounded we’re basically… shunted out the door once we finish school.”

Harry’s eyes went wide and Louis seemed to notice because he rolled his eyes.

“Oh, don’t worry. It’s not that overly dramatic. There’s like a contract I signed and everything. You go out and you live in the real world, since the 1700s the Alphas have mostly gone and pursued some sort of education, and of course, found a mate. Finding a mate is the key factor in our return.”

“Why?”

Louis shrugged. “It means you’ve matured enough. If you’ve found a mate then you’re _settled_ and world-wise or something. So you come back to the pack and you use the knowledge you’ve learned to help guide it to prosperity. And naturally have a big brood of pups to pass on the lineage.” He pulled his knees up to his chest, frowning.

Harry could tell thoughts were swirling in his mind, and he wondered if they were memories. Did Louis have good memories of home? The way he spoke made it seem like he didn’t. He tilted his head in thought. “Is that why you’re studying the agriculture and biochem? For the pack?”

“I mean, not really. Sure, the estate owns land and so knowing how to maintain it and make sure that the small farms we do sustain are going to be okay was a factor but also I just like the science of it. It was something I’m good at and it’s something I enjoy.”

“And it keeps you busy,” Harry said slowly, wondering if that was the right path to take. “So you don’t miss going home?”

Louis shrugged again, looking down. Harry had to wait another minute for him to speak, and he used that time to sit up himself, positioning himself on his knees so he could look Louis in the eye, once he finally looked up. “I didn’t _miss it_ exactly,” Louis finally said. “When I first left I was just happy to be gone and on my own. Like I said, it’s isolated up here. Our pack has a lot of people in it all things considered but eventually you know everyone. And school was fun, so there wasn’t a point in missing anything.” He huffed. “And by the time I _did_ I was already used to being on my own. I wasn’t going to just settle down with some omega just to get the chance to see my family again.” He rested his head on his knees.

Harry had to stop himself from reaching up and stroking Louis’ hair. He couldn’t even begin to imagine the mess of emotions Louis must have been going through. What had seemed only moments ago as something simple was clearly much more complex and convoluted than he had any idea. A laugh started to bubble up that he could barely contain and it got Louis to look at him.

“What?”

“It’s just. This is very much like all those pack dramas I’ve seen. So caught up in tradition that it puts the characters through angst.”

Louis frowned. “There’s a reason for why we do what we do.”

“There’s a reason to just exile a member of the family?”

“I wasn’t _exiled_. I signed a contract. It was a mutual agreement. I’m allowed to leave and grow as long as I come back within three months of mating.”

Harry quirked his head to the side. “Wait, is that why they… cared that we’re mated?”

“Yes.” Louis’ head rolled back. “Yes that’s why they cared. Cause they thought I broke the fucking contract.”

“What… happens if you do that?”

“Well clearly they kidnap my omega and force a meeting between us. Fuck, this is just a mess and a half. I’m sorry, love, that you got all tangled up in this.”

“Lou, Lou, no. It’s fine. I mean, okay no it’s not okay. The fact that they kidnapped me is _really_ fucked but I mean, at the end of the day, your family must have missed you terribly. For them to do this.”

“Haz, don’t defend them. They overstepped their boundaries. You could have been _hurt_.”

“I’m just saying, they missed you. And it sounds like maybe you missed them too.” Louis didn’t say anything. “What happens if they find out we’re not mates?”

“I don’t know.”

“Will you be exiled again?”

Louis sounded almost annoyed as he repeated himself. “I don’t know.”

Harry’s mind was racing though, and he couldn’t get the thoughts to stop. They coming in fast, spinning around, and maybe… maybe they weren’t good ideas, exactly, but they were something. “Do you want to be exiled again?”

“It’s not exile, Harry.”

“Can you come home whenever you want? Stay for the weekend? If you weren’t mated.”

“I don’t know, probably not. It’s- I’m meant to stay away until I have a mate.”

“So you can’t see your family unless you have a mate.”

“Which I don’t,” Louis reminded him.

“We’ll explain we’re pre-bonded then.”

Silence fell over the room. Louis stared at him wide-eyed and Harry could feel himself staring back. One of his ideas had slipped out without him meaning to.

“Excuse me?”

“Just listen to me,” Harry said. “It’s obvious your family - pack - misses you. They miss you enough that they were stalking you and trying to see the moment you were mated so they could welcome you back with open arms. And if they find out you aren’t mated, that they made a big mistake and jumped the gun, then they might have to say goodbye to you until who knows when you finally settle down.”

“We aren’t pre-bonded though, genius. Eventually they’re gonna find that out.”

“Just for the holiday, Lou. We’ll stay for the holiday, you can be with your family, and then we’ll get back to London and in a couple months tell them we ended our pre-bond or something and it’ll be fine.”

“How will that be _fine_? Do you even know how important bonding is to packs? You don’t just go about breaking that!”

“But I’m just a bystander! I wouldn’t know that.”

“Harry, no. Absolutely not, that is the dumbest shit I’ve ever heard.” He started to climb out of bed but Harry grabbed his wrist, desperate for Louis to stay.

He had such a sinking feeling that if Louis left now there was a good chance he’d never see his family again. They were going to be moving to Edinburgh soon, with Louis finishing uni up next semester, and Harry getting a flat now. If this hadn’t happened Louis might have just up and moved and his family would have been lost forever.

Okay, maybe not that dramatic, but _still_.

“And who knows maybe you’ll be able to I don’t know, pave the way with your family to let this whole bullshit mating nonsense go. Then you’d be able to live your life and still come home for Sunday roast.”

“Harry,” Louis sighed, but Harry could see that he was thinking his words over. “We’re not really pre-bonded though.”

“They think we’re mated. And my heat is coming up so it’ll be a really good cover. We just explain that because of school and work and I don’t know cultural differences, we haven’t bonded yet but we’ve done the whole… pre-bond stuff.”

“You don’t even know what pre-bonding is, do you?”

Harry waved his hand. It was always mentioned in those pack romance novels, painted like engagement. “It’ll be fine. We’ll be fine.” He stroked Louis’ inside wrist, tugging him back. “You’ll get to see your family again.”

“I… would. I would get to see them.”

“Spend the holidays together. Your _birthday_.”

“I. Haven’t spent a birthday with them since I was a teen.” Harry could tell that Louis had already given in.

“And now you’ll be able to.” Louis nodded, and Harry knew this was going to work.

***

They emerged from the room - Louis’ childhood room apparently - after a quick shower where they talked a bit more about their plan. It was relatively simple: they would explain they were pre-bonded, using their real history as the backstory. The only difference was at some point they fell in love, instead of staying friends.

Harry was confident this was going to work. He held Louis’ hand as they made their way through the manor, down to what Louis had told him would be a _sitting room_.

“Mum’s favorite. It looks out to the rose garden and even during the winter it’s lovely.”

Harry took in the decorations of the house, noting how different the whole house seemed from anywhere else he had ever been. It was almost like a museum, and the only thing stopping him from stopping and staring was the fact that Louis was there, dragging him along.

As promised Alpha Tomlinson was sitting there at a desk, looking out the window into the garden.

“Mum,” Louis said, his voice steady, even as he gripped Harry’s hand in his.

She turned towards them and Harry was struck by her features and how much she looked like Louis. He hadn’t really been able to notice this morning, half asleep. “Louis. You’re up.”

Louis nodded his head and gave Harry’s hand a little tug. Harry took a step forward. “I am. And I wanted to tell you that we’ll be staying for a few days.”

Alpha Tomlinson’s face lit up as her eyes cut over to Harry. She seemed beyond delighted at the news but something was holding her back from fully celebrating. Was it some pack tradition? 

“You both will?” She ventured.

“Yes. May I introduce to you my mate to be, Harry.” His tone was formal, like he was repeating ceremonial words and something in Harry’s stomach flickered as he bowed his head. Louis’ hand came up and cupped Harry’s neck possessively, thumb running near his empty bonding spot. “He’s the love of my life, my sun and moon. And together we will bring much prosperity to the pack.”

Definitely ceremonial words and the flicker started to turn into a stone, but Harry found he didn’t want to move. Standing there, enraptured by the feeling of Louis touching his bonding spot.

Maybe. Maybe this wasn’t such a good idea.


	14. Chapter 14

Louis was in trouble. One thousand percent. He was quite possibly in the worst trouble he had ever been in in his life, and it was only made worse by the fact he couldn’t talk to anyone about it.

Growing up in the pack he’d had a wide range of support systems. His mum, naturally, had been number one, the person he could always go to. She was loving but firm, always helping him work through problems on his own, with just her steady hand guiding him. Paddy, and his other caretakers, supplied him with the means to cause mischief that wasn’t too destructive. They had a knack for constantly knowing how to channel his energy into something productive. And then of course there had been his friends, the other kids in the pack around his age, who’d kept him in check, and also were some of his best secret keepers. Not that he had a lot of secrets when he was younger, but when he was too embarrassed to talk with his mum about the first time he’d knotted during masturbation (and scared himself) he’d been able to turn to his friends and collectively scream about the new experience.

Once he was out of the pack and on his own he’d still found people to relate to. One of the things that came from being heir to the Alpha was his natural charisma, allowing people to be drawn to him. In the past this characteristic would be used to bring in fresh blood to the pack line, Louis looping people around his finger, matchmaking the new blood with pack members. In the modern age it worked best for him finding roommates who were understanding of his quirks. And once he’d found Harry, well Harry had become his entire support system. Someone he could always talk to about what was bothering him, or something he was struggling with.

But now. Now Harry _was_ the reason he was in trouble. The worst part was Harry didn’t even seem to notice, then again why should he? Harry had admitted to not knowing what pre-bonding meant, what just the _words_ meant to pack members, and to his alpha. Louis should have been firmer. He should have stood his ground and told Harry no. But he’d been weak.

He'd heard Harry suggest pre-bond and he’d fallen apart. His mind had immediately been thrown into pure instinct, the part of him he’d mostly ignored. He hadn’t been lying when he’d told Harry he’d felt isolated at home, that when he first got free he felt too liberated to miss his family. He’d worked very hard at building his own life outside of his family over the time he’d been gone, so he rarely even thought about them most days. But Harry had cracked that wide open and images of what this time could be like flooded in his mind.

He hadn’t seen his sisters in so long, they must be unrecognizable. He’d get to see friends he hadn’t spoken to, and hear about how their lives have been. Find out if anyone had had pups of their own, or mated outside the pack. And he’d be doing all of this with Harry by his side, which is more than he would have ever thought possible. Mixing Harry with his family was something he couldn’t even imagine, but now it was happening.

And that’s why he was in trouble.

After he’d properly introduced Harry to his mum – and he hadn’t even tripped over the words he’d had drilled into his head as a child! – she’d brought them to the kitchen so they could have something to eat. They hadn’t even made it to the kitchen before someone came running towards them, and his brain only caught up that it had to be _one of his sisters_ before she’d thrown her arms around him.

It had been a quick reunion with Lottie, with her gawking at Harry for only a moment, her alpha nose scrunching up as she scented his oncoming heat. It was like that had opened the flood gate of people being allowed to greet him. Louis had stayed mindful of Harry getting overwhelmed by the strangers coming and invading their space, all trying to get a glimpse at _his omega_ , but after only a few moments, and some food, Harry had blossomed under the attention. It made sense, he thrived in high stress scenarios, and vet work at zoos was rarely something strictly behind the scenes. Sometimes Harry would be roped into talking during demonstrations, even just to act as a second pair of hands.

Watching it was completely different from the theory, especially once pups started to come into the room.

Harry had quickly abandoned his side to coo over a toddler, not that Louis could blame him. He would rather spend the afternoon playing with a baby than listen to a variety of aunts and uncles ask him questions and prod him for answers regarding different pack related issues already.

“He’ll be a wonderful mum,” someone said, and while it wasn’t directed towards Louis his head immediately turned, looking who said that.

“Our Louis picked well, yes,” someone else said, “he’s found himself a very well suited omega,” the voice was enough for Louis to pinpoint who was talking.

His Uncle Richard and Aunt Linda, not actually blood relatives, but that’s how you addressed older members of the pack who lived close to the manor. Louis shifted uncomfortably as he eavesdropped on their conversation. He could see Harry from where he was standing, and it seemed more pups had decided to gather around him, vying for the newcomers attention now that they knew he was safe.

“And so close to heat,” Uncle Richard said.

Aunt Linda practically cooed in agreement. “Late summer pups would be very good I think. It’ll give them enough time to settle in.”

Louis had to resist rolling his eyes. If they were already like this he couldn’t begin to imagine how bad it would be in the coming days. He definitely shouldn’t have agreed to this.

***

His mum threw a feast for dinner, because of course she did. The spread was buffet style which Louis preferred to the more formal dinners, because it meant he wasn’t forced to sit in one spot for three hours answering questions. Instead he got to position himself in one spot after getting a plate and if anyone wanted to talk to him they had to _come_ to him dammit.

“How are you holding up?” Louis asked.

Harry looked up from his own plate and smiled. “Your family is wonderful, Lou.” Louis could see the sweat on his brow and he reached up and brushed some of it away. Harry’s face turned sheepish. “I think being around all the babies is a little much for my pre-heat.”

Louis pulled his own face. “No, you think?”

Harry shoved their knees together. “I’ve never been around this many at once before my heat. I didn’t realize how much that old-omega’s tale was true.”

Louis rolled his eyes, but he gave Harry another glance over. “You’re sure you’re okay? If you need to go back to our room and I don’t know, sort through the pile of clothes mum gave us to recharge it’s fine.”

Harry shook his head. “I’m fine.” Just as he said it he froze though, and Louis’ head shot up, trying to figure out why. He couldn’t smell any slick coming from Harry so he hadn’t frozen for an embarrassing reason.

Louis’ eyes landed on Liam, who had just entered the room with a plate of his own. He was followed by Zayn, who unlike Liam, actually looked right at Louis, and gave a wave.

A growl crept up his chest before he could pull it back. Hot anger swept through him as he thought about what Harry had said just this morning. _Knocked out twice. Forced to jump out of a car._ Louis wanted to hurt them for what they’d done to Harry. Even seeing Liam’s swollen eye wasn’t enough payback.

Harry pressed a hand to Louis’ thigh, giving the muscle a squeeze. It drew his attention away from the two alphas and back to Harry. He put his plate aside and turned his body towards Harry, grabbing his plate as well so when he pulled Harry into his arms they didn’t spill anything. He hushed in Harry’s ear softly, murmuring that it would be okay. If Liam or Zayn noticed, they definitely didn’t care as they grabbed some chairs and sat down across from Louis and Harry.

“Do we need to go upstairs?” Louis whispered against Harry’s cheek, rocking him close. He was debating just pulling the boy into his lap at this point.

Harry didn’t answer.

“Aw, look at the mated pair. Tommo’s such a good alpha isn’t he?” Zayn’s teasing was light as he nudged Liam.

Louis hadn’t been able to say it to many people but he was more than happy to let another growl slip out. “Fuck off.”

Zayn didn’t seem bothered, even though Liam shifted in his seat. “Don’t think I will. The growl is a nice touch though. Very protective.” Louis let another one out and only stopped when it made Harry whimper. “How long are you planning on being pissed at us. We were just doing what we were told.”

Louis wanted to answer _until his omega stops being terrified_ but he held his tongue. He wasn’t going to give Zayn the benefit of an answer.

Another body pulled up a seat, and before he could scent them, Niall announced himself. “I don’t want to be here anymore than your mate wants me here, but Zayn threatened me that we have to make nice so I’m here.”

Louis gave in and pulled Harry onto his lap, letting him hide his face in his neck. It meant that Louis now could in fact look at his three friends, but he wasn’t sure that was a good thing. He sighed as Harry settled in against him, shifting just a bit so they were more comfortable. “What do you even want?”

“To catch up of course, isn’t that what people do?” Zayn asked. “I’ll start off. I’ve started running an art blog and sell my prints on Etsy.”

Niall snorted. “That’s not all he sells on Etsy. You should ask him about his _embroidery_ account.”

Zayn smacked him. “That’s not mine. That’s _Miriam Wethersfield’s_ account.”

“The fuck is Miriam Wethersfield?” Louis couldn’t help but ask, and it got a small giggle out of Harry.

“His made up alias to sell embroidery,” Niall said over Zayn. “He didn’t think people would want to buy flowers and motivational shit like _get shit done_ from a tattoo’d alpha, so he spent like a fucking month coming up with this middle aged beta persona. He uses a picture of Aunt Ethel.”

“Aunt Ethel isn’t middle aged, she’s practically a dinosaur,” Louis said, and then immediately looked around to make sure Aunt Ethel wasn’t actually around. He didn’t need to be lifted out of his seat by the ear.

Harry giggled again.

“Why don’t you tell _our Alpha_ what you’ve been up to?” Zayn said.

“Don’t mind if I do. Me and Liam work at the Happy Goose Pub. He’s bar manager and I work in the kitchen. Gary – the owner – is trying to decide who he’s gonna turn it over to when he retires in the next three or so years.” Niall seemed so proud of himself. “Now what about you two? Flat in London, very nice, very nice. We didn’t get to see it of course, but we assume it exists.”

Louis found himself explaining his degree, and at some point in the conversation Harry started to talk, voice steady as he turned away from Louis’ neck. Louis was happy to watch and listen as Harry talked about his job, and it wasn’t even awkward when Zayn started steering the questions to more personal: asking how they met, how long it’s been, when they decided to mate.

“Over the summer is when we made it official,” Louis said easily. He was feeling more relaxed now that Harry was calmer, and having his omega in his lap, his scent surrounding him, and the pack, was like every dream he didn’t know he had coming true.

“What was it like?” Niall asked. “Spare no details for your poor beta friend who will never be able to bond.”

Louis felt Harry’s questioning look but he tried to stay in the easy calm mindset he was feeling. “Niall, I’m not gonna tell you about that.”

“Was it a full moon? A new moon? Did you do it outside? Inside? In public?”

“You’re being ridiculous,” Louis said. He wasn’t going to entertain Niall’s line of questioning. He knew what he was fetching around for and he _was not_ going to give it to him.

Harry seemed to have other plans. _Other ideas_ and Louis didn’t know how to stop him when the hard pinch to his hip did nothing. “Oh it was.... June. The June full moon?”

Niall didn’t know Harry well enough to pick up the tilt in his voice that meant he was lying. He was too busy nodding along. “The Strawberry Moon. A good time. A shame your heat didn’t come soon enough for the Cold Moon this month. It would have signified good luck in the mating since they’re complementary months.”

_Kill me now_ , Louis thought. He didn’t need a reminder of family lore right now and how different patterns of the moon signified special times and meanings. He was a scientist. He was rational.

“Oh, umm, we had plans and thoughts but we’re waiting for a bit longer...”

“The natural syncing of heat and rut no doubt,” Niall said with a wave of his hand. “For true bonded pairs the mating is strongest when that’s the case. Naturally Tommo would follow that. A regular romantic he is.”

Harry’s face went soft as he nodded. “He’s very romantic, as am I. He indulges me.”

The conversation petered away from talk of mating and bonding but it didn’t leave Louis’ mind. When they finally made their way to their bedroom many hours later it was still on his mind. Mostly because what Harry had said had gotten around to the pack. And the implications that followed...

“I think this went very well!” Harry declared as he turned down the comforter. “Your family is really wonderful. I’m glad we’re doing this for you.”

Louis wanted to agree because it was true. Minus the part where they were lying to his pack it had been a lovely day. Harry had been right that he’d been missed, and Harry had also been right that he’d missed them, even if he hadn’t fully processed it. There was one problem.

“You can’t talk about mating anymore.”

Harry turned to him with a frown. “Why? I think I did alright.”

“Do you even know the implications of the moons on pre-bonding?” Louis knew Harry didn’t. Harry didn’t even know what pre-bonding entailed.

“Something traditional? Makes it mean more.”

“Haz, pre-bonding... it involves an actual bite.” He saw the way Harry’s eyes widened but he wasn’t going to stop his explanation now. “Just a one way bite. The alpha makes a _pre-claim_ on the omega of their choice. But it’s enough to start the bonding process, at least on the alpha’s end.”

Harry’s hand snapped up to his neck. “But I don’t have a mark? Lou, they’ll know!”

“Yeah which I tried to tell you last night but then-“ well then Louis’ head had gotten fuzzy with his alpha and the idea of pre-bonding and his pack and what it all entailed.

Harry didn’t seem to pick up on that. “So what would the moons make the bond different?”

“According to lore, yeah.” Louis sighed defeated. “Full moon for a full strength bond. New moon for a stripped down, emotional bond. Each moon has a complementary moon so obviously the thinking goes if you pre-bond with one moon and bond on the other you’ll have better luck. But the most traditional way, the one that is supposed to ensure a healthy mating and pups and all that is the first time when your cycles match up. It’s supposed to indicate you’re _that compatible_. True Mates or some shit.”

Harry’s eyes were still wide as saucers but he at least seemed to be processing what Louis was saying. “Because cycles are usually pretty rigid after you settle and so if they start moving towards each other it’s like biology telling you ‘that’s the one! That’s the person you belong with!’”

“Yeah exactly. So you _saying all that_ just made everyone think we’re fucking True Mates.”

“And True Mates don’t just break up...”

“No. True Mates don’t just break up,” Louis repeated.

Harry chewed his bottom lip. “I can take it back?”

“No. No you can’t.”

“Lou, I’m sorry I didn’t know.” He stepped closer to Louis, wrapping his arms around him. “Please believe me I was just trying to make this easier on you.”

Louis wasn’t even upset, was the worst part. He couldn’t be, not when he was surrounded by his pack, and he had Harry with him. Here and not in Edinburgh. He sighed and pulled Harry down for a quick kiss. “It’s okay. This is a problem for future us to worry about, right?”

Harry nodded, his eyes closed. “I just want you to have a good time at home. Give you a good birthday and Christmas holiday.”

“You’re here with me, love. Of course it’s going to be a good one.”

“I know but.”

“Let’s get into bed,” Louis said, kissing Harry again, just to shut him up. “We’ll just not talk about mating for the rest of the trip and it’ll be okay.”

“But Lou. The mark. If anyone sees that I don’t have one.”

That. Was not something Louis wanted to be thinking about. Not when they were alone, in a bedroom that was quickly filling up with Harry’s heat scent. He wasn’t a strong enough alpha.

“You can just wear a scarf or something.”

“Can’t you like? Leave a hickie?”

Not. A strong enough alpha for this. Louis closed his eyes. “Haz, it doesn’t work like that. It’s not a hickie it’s an actual bite.”

“Is it permanent?”

“No you bite over it when you mate.”

“Is it hard to give?”

“I’ve never done it so I don’t know.” Harry had a look in his eye that Louis didn’t like. It was his thinking face. He swallowed. “Whatever you have going on in your mind right now? Cut it out.” 

Harry nodded, but Louis had a feeling he hadn’t really let it go.


	15. Chapter 15

Heats were inconvenient. Not only because they could last so long but because they always started at the worst times. They couldn’t start first thing in the morning, or at the end of the day as one was climbing back into bed. No they had to start usually in the middle of the day, while Harry was trying to do something.

This time it hit right as he was swinging Doris around on the back patio while they waited for Louis and Alpha Tomlinson. Doris was one of Louis’ youngest siblings, one he’d never met, and she’d taken a liking to Harry immediately.

The fever hit him like a wave, making his vision swimming. He put Doris down and rubbed his palm into his eye.

“Harry?” Doris asked. “Harry are you okay?” She poked his shoulder but Harry just shook his head.

“Get Louis,” he gritted out.

He heard the patter of her feet running away and Harry took a deep breath. He tried to get his bearings and move inside but it was hard. Heat always made him weak in the knee and he wanted nothing more than to sink to the ground and wait for his alpha to come.

He was warm and flushed and he could feel slick dripping, making his pants and trousers a mess. If he had more coherent thoughts he’d be embarrassed about this happening in public, but he couldn’t focus on that.

He didn’t know how long he stood there, crouched over, trying to breathe, but eventually he felt and smelled Louis.

“Hey, hey, I got you.” Louis’ voice was like a balm, and his touch was soothing, even on the outside of Harry’s clothes. “Come on. Up to your feet.”

Harry whined, but he let Louis move him however he wanted.

He didn’t remember the walk back up to their room, he only knew they’d reached it because he was suddenly surrounded by an intense feeling of _them_. It wasn’t their flat - where he felt safest - but it was good enough.

“Out of your clothes, there’s a good omega,” Louis was whispering as Harry struggled to undress. “I’ll take care of you. Don’t worry.”

Harry never worried. Louis was so good to him. He was so good at making sure Harry’s needs were met, giving him whatever he wanted.

He shivered as he stood naked in front of Louis, waiting for whatever came next. His eyes felt glassy as he watched Louis strip, his eyes focused on the softness of Louis’ tummy, the way it fed into his hips, down to his cock. He licked his lips.

“Alpha,” he whined.

“I know, I’ll be right there. Get on the bed. However you want.”

Harry scrambled for the bed. His limbs felt like they weren’t even real as he got his hands and knees, presenting himself as best he could. He reached down, his hand cupping his cock. It was hard, leaking fluid, and he used some of it to help the slide of his hand.

Orgasms through jacking off were never satisfying during heat, it wasn’t the part of him that needed attention, but he ached so much. He needed to do something about it, and Louis seemed to be taking his time. He was just working up to it, about to crest, when the bed shifted under Louis’ weight. Harry shuddered, his hand not stopping, as Louis gripped his hips.

“Starting without me?” Louis’ voice was tight but teasing.

Harry didn’t pay it much attention. He was too wound up, and the coolness of Louis’ body pressing up against him only made it much. It gave him something to think about.

Louis didn’t say anything else as he started to push into Harry.

Harry’s fist moved faster, pulling the orgasm out of himself just as Louis’ settled inside him. He cried out, making a mess on the comforter. He got no relief from the pleasure, but Louis - Louis helped. Louis thrusting helped.

Harry dropped his hand to the bed and grabbed hold of the sheets. The power of Louis’ thrusts was making the bed shake, and a distant part of Harry’s mind had thought a bed like this would be sturdier.

He cried out at the feeling of another orgasm building, one that was stronger. One brought about by being filled and fucked. He kept chanting “alpha, alpha” letting anyone who could be listening know who was satisfying him.

Louis’ knot was growing, catching on his cunt with every thrust, until Louis’ own cries joined Harry’s, higher pitched and just as satisfied. His fist clenched into the comforter as he was fucked into the mattress, the feeling of being knotted taking over his mind.

It took four more orgasms to start to feel like a human again, only just barely. The bed was sticky, but Harry felt comfortable, surrounded by Louis and them.

Louis was kissing him, his hand wrapped around Harry’s hard cock, trying to ease him to sleep.

“Doing better, love?” Louis asked, lips pressed against his.

“More,” Harry said. He didn’t know what he meant about more, just that he needed more. The pit inside him needed more. Louis’ hand rhythm stuttered, and Harry shifted, rolling onto his back. He pulled Louis along with him, spreading his legs so Louis could settle in between them. “More,” he repeated.

Louis’ laugh was tired. “Baby, I’m not sure I can go again for a bit. You’ve worn me out.”

His face was tired, Harry could tell, but that wasn’t enough to stop him from wanting more. “Please,” he looked into Louis’ eyes.

“What do you need? Use your words.”

Harry tilted his head to the side, exposing his neck. “Make it stop. It’s too much.” Louis stroked his hair, and that wasn’t where Harry wanted him to touch. “Alpha,” he whined, tilting his head more. Making his neck look more invited.

That’s what he wanted. He wanted Louis to pay attention to his neck. To his bonding spot.

Louis froze. “Haz.”

“ _Please_.”

“Haz, you’re in heat. It’s not-”

His head was swirling, heavy with fever and desire. He grabbed the back of Louis’ head and pulled him down for a kiss. He lifted a leg up, rubbing himself against Louis’ cock. It wasn’t fully hard yet, but it was getting there. Soon it would be easy to slide him back inside him.

“Please. It’s not-” Louis tried again, breaking the kiss for a moment. “You’re not thinking clear.”

“But it’ll _help_.” Harry was desperate. “It’s not permanent is it? You said.” He shoved Louis’ head down to his neck, pressing him against his bonding spot. “It’ll _help_.”

He didn’t know what he meant. Would it help the heat? Would it help… something else? He couldn’t remember. He couldn’t remember why they’d never done this before.

He humped against Louis’ cock wanting him inside him.

“ _Alpha_ ,” Harry begged. Louis was quiet for too long, and Harry repeated himself.

“You don’t know what you’re asking,” Louis said, and his lips ghosted over Harry’s neck.

It felt electrifying.

“I do.”

“You _don’t_ ,” Louis said. He was shifting his weight, lifting Harry’s leg up so he could settle back inside him.

Harry felt so full, and it was only made better by Louis’ lips against his bonding spot. He let out a ragged breath, clinging to Louis’ shoulders. His nails dug into the flesh as he felt Louis start to pull back, and he only relaxed when Louis pushed back inside him.

“It’ll be okay,” Harry begged. “I want this.”

Louis shivered above him. He sucked a bit of Harry’s skin into his mouth, teeth grinding over it. Harry would be embarrassed of the sound he made but he was too keyed into whatever Louis was doing. He wanted to move himself, so his own teeth could return the favor to Louis’ bonding spot, tying them together.

Yes. That sounded like a good idea.

If they were bonded Louis wouldn’t be sad about him leaving, because he’d understand. He’d be okay with moving to Edinburgh. They’d be together.

“Alpha.”

“Okay. Okay,” Louis said. “Just the pre-bonding bite. That’s it.”

Harry was nodding even though he didn’t want just that. He wanted more. He wanted to reciprocate.

“Tilt your head,” Louis said, his hips moving in shallow thrusts. His hand left Harry’s hip and he moved it to his lips. “Keep my fingers in your mouth. You can’t bite back.”

His fingers were pressing against Harry’s lips before Harry could respond. He could only take them in, letting them rest on his tongue.

Louis was still moving inside him, gentler than he ever did when Harry was in heat. It wasn’t like he was chasing an orgasm or trying to get Harry off. He took a deep breath against Harry’s neck before kissing his bonding spot again.

That was the only warning Harry got before Louis’ teeth sunk down. He cried out around Louis’ fingers, shaking his head to try and get them out of his mouth. He wanted to return the bite. He needed to.

Louis’ was knotting him and it was a surprise. That wasn’t how it normally worked. Usually there was more build up, but it seemed like just the act of biting him - bonding him - was enough to get Louis to come.

Louis’ fingers dropped from his mouth and he was offering Harry his forearm instead. Harry bit down. It wasn’t satisfying enough. It wasn’t what he wanted. He wanted to mark Louis for himself. He couldn’t remember why Louis told him he couldn’t.

Louis’ teeth pulled out of his skin, and his tongue licked over the wound.

Harry released his forearm and looked at Louis. He had tears in his blue eyes and Harry didn’t understand why. He cupped Louis’ cheeks and pulled him down for a kiss.

It wasn’t until they broke the kiss that he realized he was crying too.


	16. Chapter 16

_Fuck, fuck, fuck,_ Louis thought as he scrubbed himself in the shower. Normally he never took a shower while Harry was in the middle of heat, knowing that the way their scents clung to his body soothed Harry and made it easier, but right now he _couldn’t_. He needed to be clean. He opened his mouth and swallowed a swig of water, hoping it would get rid of the taste of Harry’s blood.

He spit, groaning when he could still taste him. He leaned against the cool tile and closed his eyes.

Bad idea.

He got a rush of sleepy satisfaction filling his veins, definitely not his own emotions. They were one hundred percent Harry’s emotions. Louis opened his eyes and let out another groan.

This was so fucked. He never, ever should have agreed to this. He shouldn’t have helped Harry through his heat when he was so… compromised. He’d done one of the stupidest things an alpha could do. Rule number 1 as an alpha was never _ever_ perform any sort of bite without pre-heat discussion and agreement. Taking the word of an omega in heat - especially when you weren’t experiencing rut - was something you couldn’t do.

Louis sucked in a deep breath and tried to shut out Harry’s emotions. As a pre-bond the shared emotions only went one way, and for that he was grateful. He had no idea what sending a torrent of panic into Harry would do right now. He’d probably be breaking down the door, begging to fix it, and that wasn’t something Louis needed right now.

He shut off the water and stepped out of the shower. Harry still felt asleep but Louis made sure to be quiet as he went back into their room and dressed in some of the borrowed clothes. It was dark out and Harry was snoring softly. Everything in Louis’ body was begging him to climb back into bed and cuddle with his omega.

He couldn’t do that. He needed space.

He made sure to lock the door from the outside as he left the room, a safety measure for everyone. The manor was quiet because of the time, and he padded downstairs on a familiar route to the kitchen. When he was younger he used to sneak out of his room all the time, to the point the kitchen staff used to lock up the pantries so he couldn’t get into them. That seemed to no longer be the case as he saw there was no lock on the pantry, and he could open the fridge without worry.

He put together a sandwich for himself, though he pulled out food he knew Harry would want when he woke up. Despite his need for space he kept one part of himself reaching out for Harry - trying to see if he woke up before Louis got back.

Footsteps came towards him and Louis looked up towards the door. He supposed he shouldn’t be surprised to see his mum coming in. She always had a knack for knowing when one of them was out of bed. He took a big bite of his sandwich instead of greeting her, hoping it would tell her he didn’t want to talk.

She clicked on a set of lights and Louis winced.

“Why are you standing in the dark, pup?” She took a seat across from where he was standing.

He shrugged, taking another bite.

She gave him a knowing look. “You know you didn’t have to shower to come out and get some food. We’re all adults here, and we all have noses.”

Louis flushed even as he rolled his eyes. He fished around for something to change the topic about - because he sure as hell wasn’t going to give _that_ comment any sort of response - but all he had on his mind right now were worries and regrets.

“He’s really lovely though,” she continued, as if she knew he wouldn’t respond. “We all can tell how well you two fit.” 

Louis swallowed and looked down. “I- thanks, I guess.” He didn’t want to look her in the eye, not when he was lying to her.

He felt Harry stirring in his sleep, still feeling so content.

His mum hummed. “You’ve got that look in your eye. The one all alphas get when they’re sensing around for their omegas. You aren’t used to being away from him during his heats are you?”

Louis snorted. More like he wasn’t used to this feeling at all. _Fuck_ how easy it would be to spill and tell her the truth. But the more he thought about it, the couple days he’d already spent here, he knew Harry had been right. If he had been told he had to leave because they found out he didn’t have a mate it would have hurt. He didn’t want to be sent away again like some child. He loved his family, and keeping up this charade for just a little while longer would be worth it.

He jolted when his mum touched his arm, reaching across the counter. “What’s on your mind, pup? Is he having nightmares?”

Louis shook his head. “He’s sleeping fine. He’s… he’s happy. I have a feeling once he wakes up he’ll be hungry though.” He finally looked at her, taking in the soft furrow of her brow as she tried to work out what was on his mind.

“Boo-bear,” she said and he didn’t wince like he had started to as a teen. No the nickname was soft and familiar, and it made him want to curl up into her and have her tell him everything was going to be alright. That Harry was going to love him back, and never leave him, and they’d make it through this. “You know it’s normal.”

“What is?” He asked.

“That feeling during pre-bond. Where you worry too much about your omega, and whether you’re good enough for them.”

His mouth went dry. He wanted to talk to her so badly. But he couldn’t risk her finding out. “What if… I’m not? What if…” Would saying these words expose them? “What if he doesn’t love me like I love him?” He whispered them.

His mum squeezed his arm. “Pup, of course he loves you like you love him. No omega would ask for a bonding mark unless they truly wanted to be with their alpha. And we all can tell how much you both love each other.”

 _An act._ It was all an act.

“But, what if-”

She cut him off. “You both agreed to wait to bond until your cycles were synced up. There’s nothing wrong with that. It’s a choice a pair makes together. During heat don’t take him not reciprocating the bite as rejection.”

“He didn’t- he tries to reciprocate. I’m the one who had to stop him.” Harry had tried every time he’d been knotted since Louis had given him the mark. Louis’ arm was bit up with the circles of Harry’s teeth.

The look she gave him was full of empathy, before she pushed up his sleeve. For some reason it made her smile. “You’re a good alpha that you’re keeping your pre-heat word to him. It’s one of the true tests you go through when you pre-bond, you know? And one of the reasons pre-bonding is so important to the pack.”

Louis felt awful because he’d _definitely_ fucked that up by giving into Harry’s heat words. He couldn’t tell his mum that.

A whine went through his head, piercing his ears so much that he covered them and closed his eyes. He could feel the tug on his heart that accompanied the whine, letting him know it was all in his head.

“Your omega’s up I guess.”

Louis managed to pry one eye open to see his mum smiling at him. He swallowed, the whine was dying down. “Yeah. I need. Food. Water for him.”

She stood up and started to collect more things for Louis to take back up to the room. The whining didn’t stop, it was very obvious that Harry was awake and needed him. Harry’s need was taking over his mind, pushing all his thoughts away and leaving only instinct.

His omega needed him.

He got a tray together of food and water, gave his mum one last smile before he hurried back up to their room.


	17. Chapter 17

Harry was warm, but he knew his fever had broken. His heat was over. He let out a contented sigh as he nuzzled closer to Louis’ body. “Morning,” he mumbled, breathing in their mixed scent on Louis’ skin.

Louis’ arm curled around him. “You done?”

Harry nodded. “Pretty sure.” He reluctantly pushed himself away from Louis so he could stretch, feeling pleasantly achey like he normally did after his heat or Louis’ rut. When he was done stretching his back he looked back at Louis, who hadn’t moved from where he was laying. “Is something wrong?”

Louis shook his head. “Just a short heat is all. Not even two full days.”

Harry blinked and his hand went up to the bite mark on his shoulder. “Do you think the bonding had anything to do with it?”

Louis’ face shuddered as he pushed himself up. He shrugged, not looking in Harry’s eye. “Dunno. Never done it before, but maybe.” He took a deep breath. “Sorry about that. I shouldn’t have.”

Harry rubbed over the bite wound. He could feel it was already starting to heal. “It’s fine, really.” He smiled at Louis. He wasn’t sure what more he could say to let Louis know it was okay. He didn’t feel any different, definitely not the way bonds were supposed to make you feel. Louis had said these weren’t permanent so Harry had a feeling that as long as they didn’t reopen it the mark would go away. He frowned a little as he remembered they’d be spending the next semester apart while Louis finished up at uni and he started his new job, but before he could sink too deep into those thoughts Louis was touching him, and Harry saw a ring of bites all around his forearm. “What happened to you?”

Louis laughed, his eyes on his arm. “Oh, yeah. You don’t remember? You were really insistent on returning the bonding mark. Had to give you something to bite onto.”

Harry’s eyes were wide as he look at the marks all over Louis’ arm. He must have bitten him nearly ten times.

“Every time I knotted you after I marked you,” Louis said gently. “It’s fine. It was there or an actual bonding and neither of us wanted that.”

Harry sighed, finally letting go of Louis’ arm. Louis was right. An actual bonding wouldn’t be good right now, not only because they hadn’t actually discussed anything before hand, but also because of the separation they were going to be experiencing. He leaned against Louis’ shoulder, closing his eyes so he could focus entirely on Louis. “Does it feel any different for you?” Harry asked.

“No,” Louis said quickly, and a wave of disappointment flooded through Harry. “I mean… a little. I guess. Kinda like we’re closer?”

Harry smiled at that, unable to help himself. “We are officially pack engaged now, aren’t we?”

Louis snorted. “Yeah, we’re pack engaged now. Do you need me to get you a ring too?”

“Let me think,” Harry said, wrapping himself around Louis. “It would need to be sturdy enough for me to wear while I work, something that wouldn’t scratch up while I’m sticking my hand in a lion’s mouth.”

“Not gold then. Too soft. Unless you took it off. Or wore it on a necklace.”

“I guess,” Harry drew out the word. “But the point of you getting me a ring would be so I could show it off. Let everyone know I’m taken by a ridiculously wonderful alpha.”

“You’re the ridiculous one,” Louis said, but there was no heat behind his words even as he jokingly tried to pull his arm away.

Harry clamped onto it like a clingy koala. “Lou.”

“Yeah, babe?”

“Have I told you recently how much I love you?”

Louis was quiet for a moment. But then he said, “you said it quite a bit yesterday.”

“Heat doesn’t count you know that,” Harry said easily. “But. I do. Love you. And I’m really lucky to have you taking care of me.”

“You don’t do so shabby at returning the favor, you know.” Before Harry could respond, Louis continued. “It’s what friends are for, yeah?”

Harry snuggled closer to try and hide his frown. Friends. Yeah. They were friends… but weren’t they more? Didn’t Louis think they were more? Maybe it was just his post-heat neediness rearing its head, making him read too deep into Louis’ words. That had to be it. He turned and smacked a kiss onto Louis’ shoulder. “I love you,” he repeated himself, in hopes Louis would respond appropriately.

“I love you too, Haz. Here, gimme a kiss and we’ll go shower.”

Harry was more than happy to give Louis a kiss. Once they got back to their normal life they could work everything out. The new year was only two weeks away after all. New year, new beginning.


	18. Chapter 18

Bonds were addictive. The more Louis spent feeling Harry’s emotions flooding through to him the more he understood why anyone would crave this. Every rush of good feeling made Louis tingle from his head to his toes, while the bad ones – those flickers of down – made him feel like he’d fallen into a pit. Louis was addicted to making sure only good emotions were flowing towards him, so he did everything he could to make sure Harry was smiling and happy.

Right now he was definitely enjoying himself as he tried to skate around the fake lake his pack had set up in the back garden. Louis could hear the laughter coming from Harry, he could see how lit up his face was, and he could _feel_ the joy coming towards him, filling up the bond. He stayed safe off the ice, knowing already he was crap at it. The rink was filled mostly with the pups from the pack, though a few older members were out there as well: Harry, Zayn, and Niall among them.

“He’s really good for you, you know,” Liam said from beside him. The air was cold enough that his breath fogged up the air, both of their cheeks and noses red. Louis couldn’t help but let his eyes go back to Harry, checking to make sure he was still wearing the gloves and scarf Louis had forced on him.

“We try,” Louis finally said, after being sure Harry was still bundled up. Even post-heat he was probably still running warm.

“I mean, I’d hazard a guess when he put up such a fight,” Louis’ growl couldn’t be contained, but Liam didn’t seem to mind. “But seeing you guys together. I _get it_. Why you wanted to stay down there with him, instead of coming home.”

Louis huffed. “I was gonna come home eventually.”

“When? Once you guys had a little pack of your own? Oh don’t give me that look,” Liam said before Louis could even finish giving him the look. “I bet the only reason he’s not already given you a pup is cause you’re too traditional to have one before mating.”

Louis couldn’t help the laugh that escaped. “Excuse me? Where do you get off, Liam?”

“What? You can’t just go through his heat and not expect the pack to gossip.” His wiggled his eyebrows. “Especially when his heat was so short? _That_ gets the tongues wagging.”

Louis rolled his eyes, trying to tap down his instinctual reaction of nerves. “Don’t let Haz hear that talk. That’s the last thing I need. And if you must know, we’re both focused on other things right now. Different priorities. Harry has his job and I’m finishing up school.”

“Oh come on,” Liam said, nudging his shoulder. “You guys could still do that, especially once you move back in. Plenty of hands to help out.”

Louis’ response was cut off by Harry calling his name. He looked up, following Harry’s voice and the excitement he was feeling. Harry was waving his hands, standing next to one of his twin sisters. He was absolute crap at telling them apart now that he’d been gone for so long.

“Lou! Watch this!” Harry said, before he clasped hands with Phoebe or Daisy and the two of them began spinning.

“Oh no,” Louis whispered, starting to laugh.

Round and round they went, laughing so loud it drew everyone to watch them. Louis couldn’t watch though, because he knew what was coming. He could see it in the way Harry was starting to teeter, and their gloved hands weren’t made for traction. Louis had just covered his face with his hand when they both shrieked and he knew it had happened.

He looked again to see them both on the ice, laughing. Harry’s heart rate was going a million miles a minute in his veins and Louis sighed, stepping onto the ice with just his trainers on. He half-walked, half-skidded across the ice so he could make sure Harry was as okay as he felt.

Harry was still laughing when he got to him, and close up he could see it was his sister Phoebe that Harry had been spinning with.

“Need a hand?” Louis asked, hoping his footing wouldn’t slip as he reached down to offer Harry assistance back to his feet.

Harry’s grin was wicked and he only had a warning shot of mischief through his mind to know that this was a mistake before he too was tumbling onto the ice. It was cold and wet on his bum and he swore.

“Language, love,” Harry sing songed, climbing to his feet, leaving Louis sitting there.

“I’ll show you language,” Louis said, scrambling to his feet. The ice was slick though, and he got his trousers wetter before he managed to get back to two feet.

Harry was filled with mirth as he waited a moment and then took off. Louis yelped and tried to chase after him, but he had to be careful since he knew now he didn’t have the full balance in his trainers. Harry took advantage of that, skating away towards a gaggle of younger pups and using them as a shield.

That got them shrieking, which only added to the mirth Louis was feeling from Harry. The chase went on like that, the two of them laughing, for awhile. Harry would weave in and out between skaters with Louis trying to maneuver his way around the ice without falling.

They tired eventually and Harry let Louis catch up to him. Louis wrapped him up in a hug and pulled him off the ice. It didn’t take much convincing to bring Harry inside, where they could cuddle in front of one of the fireplaces inside. 

There was a minor spat over who would get them something warm to drink and who would get to warm up under some blankets, but it was all good natured. Soon they were both warming up under a blanket by the fire sharing some warm tea.

Having Harry cuddled up to him, his happiness flowing across the bond, was addictive. Louis understood why it was something people craved, and he didn’t know how he’d give it up when Harry finally left him.


	19. Chapter 19

Harry dropped into their bed. They’d had another long day with Louis’ pack, getting ready for the holidays. Though the manor already had a tree in the main living room, there were still lights to be hung and presents to be wrapped, not to mention the smaller trees that were put up around the manor that still needed decorated. Harry was all for as many trees as you wanted, but he was pretty sure anything near ten was _too many_. Then again the manor was huge.

In the afternoon he’d been whisked away by Lottie under the guise of wrapping presents for the pack pups, only to be brought into a meeting about what the pack was going to do for Louis’ birthday. They’d wanted ideas from him about gifts to get Louis, and what level of feast and party he would want. Harry had felt a little over his head in helping making those decisions, especially since everyone seemed to defer to him as the one with the final say.

The entire thing did get him thinking though.

“Hey Lou,” Harry said, looking up at the drapes that hung around the bed. Louis had told him if it got too cold at night they could pull the drapes closed and it would keep some heat in the bed. Harry personally thought the drapes were just a statement piece.

“Yeah, babe?” Louis answered from the bathroom.

“Are we staying here through your birthday and Christmas?”

Louis popped his head out around the door. He was frowning. “I don’t know. I think so? Maybe? Why?”

Harry pushed himself up, mimicking Louis’ frown. “Well we hadn’t talked about it. You’d been saying a couple days, a couple days, but now it’s been more than a couple days that we’ve been here, and my heat leave is almost up so I’ll need to call work and make arrangements, and we had plans to see my mum, and then we still need to look at flats in Edinburgh.”

“You can make all those calls tomorrow. And we can take a day to go see your mum.”

Harry couldn’t suppress the laugh, and it came out ruder than he wanted it to. He could see it on Louis’ face. “We usually see my mum for your birthday, and then Christmas day. And I have a feeling your pack isn’t going to take kindly to that.”

Louis shifted, stepping out of the bathroom. “Probably not…” Harry watched him chew on his lip. “We can invite her here? No one would mind.” Harry had a feeling that was the best compromise he’d get out of Louis about that so he nodded. “And you have holiday time saved up for work. Between that and the time you get off and, and you starting the new job they’ll understand. So you can call tomorrow, or I’ll call for you. Say your heat is running long, put in the paperwork for holiday time and all that?”

Anger flared up in Harry’s belly. “I’m not just going to blame my heat or lie. I know I only have a couple weeks left but I’ve been at that job for awhile. You know how much it means to me and I don’t want to just ditch them because I’ve got a new job. Word will get around eventually and I don’t need that kind of worker reputation.” Louis seemed at a loss for words, and that made the fire in Harry’s stomach die just a little. He took a shaky breath. “I’ll call them tomorrow and figure… something out.”

“You don’t have to stay,” Louis said, moving towards him. “You can go home if you want. I’ll make your excuses. You’ve already done more than enough for me with this and so-“

Harry shook his head. “I don’t want to _leave you_. I just, I do have other shit to do. I can’t just disappear.” _And neither can you,_ he thought with a swallow. But he was watching Louis now, and wondering.

The Louis he’d been around since they’d gotten here had blossomed into someone Harry had only seen glimpses of. His Louis was surrounded by a perpetual cloud of stress and anxiety. His shoulders were usually tense, and he’d miss meals if Harry wasn’t around to remind him. Between work and research and writing his dissertation he rarely came up for air, and it was _fine_. Harry loved him like that, but he could see the difference. He could see what being with his family could offer Louis, and it made Harry wonder. Did _Louis_ intend to go back?

He knew it was possible to finish his dissertation from a distance. Or maybe Louis would move up here and extend his study in London, but then what? Would he want to still go on and teach? Would he want to move to Edinburgh with Harry? Or would he decide to take his studies and apply it to the pack? Do minor research from here, write papers, and occasionally teach for a semester, but spend his time … not with Harry.

“Hey, hey,” Louis said, grabbing him by his shoulders. “What’s going on? Talk to me.”

“It’s changing, Lou.”

“What’s changing?”

“Everything. We are. In a month we won’t live in our flat anymore, and I’ll be in Edinburgh and you’ll be-“ He didn’t know where Louis would be, now. He thought Louis would be in London, a quick train trip down. They’d spend weekends together, preparing to move back in together.

“Yeah. But you said,” Harry focused on the way Louis’ addam’s apple bobbed when he swallowed. “You did say New Year, New Us, yeah? Change is good.” He stroked a strand of Harry’s hair behind his ear, but Harry shook his head, knocking it back into its original place.

“Change is _terrifying_. I thought I knew what was going to happen but now. Now there’s too many variables.” He whispered the last sentence.

Louis sat down on the bed and pulled Harry into his lap, having him straddle his legs across his hips. “Look at me.” Louis commanded, cupping Harry’s chin. “You and I? No matter what, we’re gonna be okay. You are too important to me to let you go.”

“You’re important to me too,” Harry whispered. His eyes were drawn to Louis’ lips, watching them form words he needed desperately, before going back to his eyes.

“So shit will change. You’ll move, I’ll move, the pack, work, but you’ll always have a place in my life.”

Harry blinked and he could feel his eyes welling up with tears. He threw his arms around Louis’ neck, hugging him tightly. “I’m going to miss you. I don’t want to leave you.”

He felt Louis rubbing his back and he wished he knew what he was thinking. “We’ll call your work tomorrow and explain to them something, okay? So you don’t have to leave.”

It was on the tip of his tongue to tell Louis that wasn’t what he’d meant – that maybe he’d stay down in London, or here, and they’d talk and make things official-official – but then Louis was kissing him, making his thoughts flow away. Harry sunk into the kiss, enjoying it. They didn’t do this often enough, just kiss for the sake of kissing, and maybe they should. Maybe it should be a habit.

Louis broke the kiss, but didn’t speak. He just started to trail kisses down Harry’s chin, over to his bonding mark. He’d been paying attention to his mark, kissing it and sucking on it whenever they were in bed together. Before he used to avoid Harry’s bonding spot like a plague, clearly resisting his instincts. The way he treated it now made Harry wonder if maybe there was more to the mark than Louis had said. That couldn’t be though, could it? Louis wouldn’t keep something from him.

He settled himself more comfortably in Louis’ lap, letting the feeling of Louis worshipping his mating mark rush over him. He didn’t feel settled exactly, nerves were definitely still there, but he felt… some measure of peace. And that would have to be enough.


	20. Chapter 20

Anne arrived around noon the next day, looking understandably baffled as she stepped out of her car. Louis was there to greet her and watch as Harry practically launched himself off the front steps and into her arms. She looked startled but she returned the hug, her eyes still wide. Louis only stepped up to them once they’d separated enough and Harry had turned back towards him.

“Thanks for coming out all the way out here,” Louis said, with a raised arm.

Anne gave him a hug, slowly coming back to herself. “Of course! When Harry called to say there was a change of plans and if I wanted to see you two I had to come to you, well I wouldn’t say no, would I?”

She was warm and smelled sharp just like she always did and Louis held onto the hug for an extra moment just to take her in. “Well thank you anyway. I figured after all the years of you taking care of me I return the favor at least once.”

“Nonsense, Louis. I’m always more than happy to have you over for the holidays.” He knew it was only natural that she probably wondered about his family, why he’d come to her house instead of coming home, but she’d never questioned him about it, and Harry had never mentioned her saying anything.

Harry took her hand and began the tour of the manor, pointing out different rooms, and stopping to introduce her to any pack members who were lingering around. Louis hung back, watching with a smile as Harry played host. He admired how comfortable Harry looked moving around the space of the manor, a place he hadn’t been to until just over a week ago. He looked at home, and he seemed to be feeling at peace now too, much better than last night. Louis let his mind replay the conversation over and over, the way Harry had felt to him. He’d been so lost, Louis hadn’t known what to do to bring him back. But today he looked more at peace, and it allowed Louis to imagine…

Imagine finding some way to stay here. Maybe they wouldn’t move in right away, but Louis knew deep down he’d made up his mind to move back over the past week. He’d finish his schooling, turn in his dissertation, get his degree, and then come back here. He wouldn’t cut himself off from the world like some of his pack did, but he knew the manor was home base for him. And he hoped it would be home base for Harry too. Eventually.

Louis could see it on his face that he liked the manor. He spoke with reverence about the décor that he’d been told about, repeating it all for Anne with his own flair, as if he had an interest in the manor and its history as well.

“And through these doors you can see the edge of the skating rink everyone set up for the pups of the pack, though we’ve all had fun skating on it,” Harry said, tugging his mum to the door so she could look out at the back garden. She hummed, craning her head to take in as much of the gardens as possible. “Lou told me that it’s a normal tradition, since they can’t always guarantee that the pond about a mile away will safely freeze over.”

“When I was a child we could count on it, but especially in recent years it just isn’t consistently cold enough.”

Louis turned, not surprised to see his mum. She’d known Anne was coming and he had no doubt she was eager to meet her. His mum gave him a look, and shook her head. “Neither of you thought to take her coat, did you?”

Harry blinked, looking at Anne as if for the first time. “Oh crap. No. Mum do you want me to?”

Anne laughed, shaking her head, even as she took off her coat and hung it over her arm. “I’ll be fine.”

“I can put it in a guest room for you,” Harry said. “We had one made up for you, just in case you changed your mind and wanted to spend the night. It’s a drive back to the house, isn’t it?”

Louis could feel how much Harry wanted his mum to stay longer and he hoped for his sake Anne decided to take them up on at least one night.

“I wouldn’t want to bother anyone.”

“You won’t be bothering anyone,” his mum said, all smiles. “I promise. I’m Louis’ mum by the way, Jay.” 

“Oh. I’m Anne, Harry’s mum. But you already know that. You have a lovely home,” Anne said, reaching out for a handshake.

Louis knew his own mum would be unable to resist a good hug and he was correct. Him and Harry traded smiled over their mums. “Thank you, but really we’re just happy you were able to come so we could meet some of Harry’s family.”

Anne’s eyes darted between the two of them as she separated from his mum. ”I understand. Your son has been spending the last couple holidays with our family so it was only a matter of time before he wanted to switch.”

Louis shifted from one foot to another.

“Once the boys are mated I’m sure we’ll figure out some sort of arrangement to get them to spend equal time with both families.”

Anne’s head snapped to Harry.

_Shit_ , Louis thought. They hadn’t taken into consideration the fact that Anne didn’t know they were supposed to be dating - that they were pre-bonded. They’d actively been spending the last four years convincing her it was never going to happen.

“Mated?” She asked. “Since when?”

Harry fish mouthed. 

His mum looked at Louis, confused. “Had they… not told you?”

“Surprise,” Harry whispered. “We wanted to tell you in person.”

“But what about your new-” Whatever Anne was about to ask dropped off as Harry pulled his shirt collar to the side and showed her the bite.

All Louis could feel from Harry was panic and it made him go to Harry’s side, entangling their fingers together. “Love,” he said, hoping his voice would soothe Harry. “You didn’t need to show off. You’re mum has been bothering us about getting together since we met, remember?”

Harry let his shirt collar go and it slid back into place, covering his mark again.

Anne was still staring at them a little dumbfounded. “But, you always said it wouldn’t happen?”

“I realized I couldn’t live my life without Louis, and I had to do something to show him,” Harry said.

Louis squeezed his hand, trying to remember if he’d told his mum anything different, something that could get them caught in a lie, but all he could think about currently was everything Harry was feeling. He wanted to fix it, even though he could barely begin to parse it all together. He was getting nerves, anxiety, sadness, and a coating of… love. He brought Harry’s hand up to his lips and pressed a kiss to his knuckles.

“How could I not love him back,” Louis said.

Anxiety and sadness sparked through the bond and Louis frowned, wondering what he had said wrong.

It had been the right thing to say to his mum and Anne at least, because they both looked less unsettled. They were even currently debating about whether or not Anne would let his mum take her coat.

He checked in with Harry once more, gliding his thumb over Harry’s knuckles. Harry sent him a wane smile.

“Come on, let’s stop them before they begin a game of hostess one upmanship,” Harry said. He didn’t tug his hand away though, and Louis counted that as a win.

“Maybe it wasn’t a good idea to introduce them,” Louis teased.

Harry just hummed in response, as low level sadness continued to pour across the bond no matter what Louis tried to do to stop it.


	21. Chapter 21

It all had to come crashing down at some point. For Harry it happened after his mum had left. She’d stayed through the night, and well into the afternoon, and it had been good. He hadn’t seen her for a few months though they talked on the phone weekly, so it had been nice to curl up in one of the sitting rooms of the manor and just bask in her presence. They hadn’t been able to talk too much, even though he knew she wanted to know when he and Louis had made any sort of step forward – let alone one as drastic as pre-bonding. He still wanted to protect Louis and make sure that his family wouldn’t exile him.

The time with his mum had still been good though, and she’d left him with a smile and a kiss for both of them. It had left Harry feeling like everything would be okay, which is how it usually went right before everything went to shit.

Afternoon had bled into an easy night with another pack family meal. They weren’t as large as the first night, made up mostly of the pack members who lived in the manor proper. The dinners were much more lowkey, even if they were all seated at one table. Harry kept hearing whispers from Louis’ sisters that Christmas would be hectic. He was pretty sure he could handle them though. Just a couple more days and then he and Louis could go back to their lives.

“We’ll have fireworks for New Years,” one of the uncles was saying.

“Will you?” Louis answered, and Louis’ participation in the conversation was what brought Harry’s focus over to it. If Louis hadn’t spoken up Harry wouldn’t have paid attention, or joined in.

“Yes,” a cousin answered. “I think Zayn is in charge of the design this year?”

“No, I gave it to Niall,” Zayn said. “More chaotic that way.”

“It’ll be like the party from Fellowship if I have my way. It’s gonna be sick Tommo. You two will love it.” Niall was practically shouting down the stretch of the table as he said it.

Harry shifted in his seat. They weren’t staying until New Years. It was going to be awkward watching Louis turn them down.

But instead of turning them down Louis smiled at Niall. “I’m sure we will.”

A coldness settled in Harry’s belly. No. That wasn’t right. They weren’t going to be there to enjoy the fireworks. He looked at Louis, waiting for the tell that he was lying, but there was none.

He kicked Louis’ ankle to get his attention.

Louis jolted and then turned to him. “What?”

“Lou,” he leaned forward and pitched his voice low. “We can’t stay until New Years.”

“Love, it’ll be okay. That’s in almost two weeks.” Louis was smiling at him.

“But _my job._ ”

“What’s that Harry?” The uncle from before asked. “Speak up.”

Harry gave Louis a pointed look, hoping he’d pick up the slack and explain, but Louis just looked lost. Harry huffed, but when he turned back to Louis’ uncle he held his back straight and made sure his voice was steady. “My job. I start a new job at the Edinburgh Zoo as one of their lead vets in the new year. Louis and I have put off going there to flat hunt, but we can’t do it much longer since my work will be starting.”

The uncle looked confused, and Harry could hear a hush falling over the table. The pack was interested in what he was saying.

“You’re moving to Edinburgh?” That was posed by Louis’ sister Fizzy.

Louis shifted in his seat, and since it was clear he wasn’t talking, Harry did it for him. “In the new year, yes.”

“But,” another cousin this time, who seemed to be at a loss of what to say.

“You can’t be serious,” the uncle again. “Edinburgh is way too far from the pack.”

“The plans have already been made.”

He waved his hand. “You’ll just have to change them. I’m sure they’ll find someone else. There’s plenty of farms around here that would love a hand if you feel the need to work still.”

Fury lit the sides of his face and he suddenly understood that one line from Clue too well. “No. I’m taking the job in Edinburgh.”

“But what about Louis?” Zayn asked.

Harry was about to answer that clearly Louis was coming with him, but then a hand was put on his bicep by Louis. “We haven’t fully worked that out yet, but there are a couple options.”

“You two should be planning to move back here,” Niall said. “What with the mating. You’re probably right on track to link up any month now and then it would be the big day.”

Harry glared at Louis. He caught sight of Alpha Tomlinson sitting at the head of the table, watching silently. The rest of the pack was chiming in, agreeing with Niall. Talking about how it didn’t make sense to start a new job when he’d just have to leave it so soon.

He stood up, and a part of him was mad that the chair didn’t clatter behind him dramatically. The more reasonable part of him just needed to leave. “Excuse me.”

He left the dining room, the commotion.

Louis followed.

“What was that, Haz? I thought we weren’t going to tell them about you moving? Just let it go.”

“We _were_ but then plans changed.” He was moving quicker, letting his stride take him up to their room, away from everyone.

“What plans? You stopped your mum from mentioning it, so what changed?”

“Because I thought we’d be gone after Christmas, and it wouldn’t matter. I was trying to avoid that exact conversation.” Harry stormed into their room and started looking around for what he needed to pack.

Louis was frozen behind him. “Haz, what are you doing?”

Harry felt the weight of the borrowed pack clothes on his body. He took a deep breath and began stripping. He needed to get out of this. “Getting ready to leave.”

“Leave? What do you mean _leave_?”

“You’re smart. You know what I mean.”

“But. I- I just don’t understand where this is coming from. You can’t _leave_!”

“Yes I can.” Harry shoved some clothes in the drawer aside looking for _his_ clothes. “I can’t do this, Lou. This isn’t- we can’t give up our lives and move here, with no conversation. I have a job. My _dream job_ -”

“I know.”

“-We’re supposed to be moving to Edinburgh.”

“Can you stop talking about moving?”

“No! Because it’s what should be happening! It’s what would be happening if this hadn’t all gone to shit.” He found his khakis, still torn from falling out of the car, but he wasn’t going to leave here with anything that could make them want to chase him down. “You were _happy_ for me like two weeks ago. We were going to look at flats, and you were going to finish your dissertation and then you’d come up with me. And you’d either get work in Edinburgh or start writing, or pick up more classes at the university.”

“What are you _talking about_? I’m not the one moving to Edinburgh.”

Harry’s huff came out wet and he didn’t know how that had happened. “I know that now, thanks.”

“Why would you even think I was going to Edinburgh?”

“Because I’m an idiot apparently.” He found his work shirt and pulled it on. His keys to their flat was in his jacket pocket, as was his wallet, and Louis had bought him a new phone. He grabbed it off the bedside table and checked the charge. He didn’t have any reception but he’d probably find some eventually.

Louis was staring at him, gobsmacked. “You can’t leave. You promised.”

“I can’t be here Louis. I have,” Harry took a deep breath and it kept the tears at bay. “I have a life, Louis. I have a job and so do you. I’m not going to just give that up because your family wants you to move home when for the last ten years you’ve been on your own. It’s not fair to either of us.”

“But.”

“And I get it’s tradition or whatever, but when I agreed to this I didn’t realize they’d think you’d be coming home immediately. And I _can’t_ Louis. We haven’t even talked about this, and all my plans are falling apart.” He rubbed his eyes with his palms, feeling shaky and scared and he didn’t know why. “I hope. I hope you see things my way, or at least understand.”

“I don’t. I don’t understand anything.”

Harry nodded. “Okay. That’s. That’s fine too.” He was definitely shaking. Adrenaline from finally getting everything out in the open. Or maybe it was how cold he was feeling. Because he was feeling cold. He was feeling cold and abandoned.

“You can’t leave.” It was like it was all Louis could say. “Haz.”

“ _Come with me_.” Harry tried to beg.

Louis just repeated his name, then swallowed, and seemed to remember how to say more words. “Don’t leave me. We’ll figure this out. We’ll sleep it off, and come back to it in the morning.”

“No,” Harry said. “I can’t keep doing that because we never end up talking. We just ignore it, and we’re running out of time.” He pushed his way passed Louis. This conversation was going in circles.

Louis didn’t even make a grab for him. “Haz, where are you going to go? You- it’s cold and night and we’re like six miles from town.”

“I’ll figure it out.”

The hallway was quiet as he stepped back into it. Everyone must still be downstairs. Or maybe they were polite enough to know that this moment deserved space.

“Haz, no,” Louis grabbed his wrist.

Harry shook him off. “Don’t! Don’t try and stop me. I can’t be here anymore.” Forced to look into Louis’ eyes made him swallow. His resolve was weakening. “Come with me.” One last time. He couldn’t say the actual words, didn’t dare give Louis that ultimatum, but he could ask. Just one more time. “Please.”

Louis was quiet as he stared at him, like he was drinking in his last look of Harry ever. Finally he looked down. “The keys to the car I rented are in the drawer by the front door. You can take that back to London. Or up to Edinburgh. Or to your mums. Just don’t walk.”

Harry shuddered, but he took the words for what they meant.

Louis was letting him go. Louis was going to stay here.

Harry should have known. “Thanks, Lou. I’ll… I’ll see you around.”


	22. Chapter 22

Louis sat in their room, hoping that Harry would come back. His scent clung to every part of the room and it made Louis feel better. It made Louis feel worse. It made Louis miss Harry with ever fiber of his being but he couldn’t do anything about it.

He couldn’t believe he’d just… stood there while Harry walked out. But he hadn’t been able to do anything. He’d been frozen, caught up the absolute torrent of emotions Harry was throwing at him.

Hurt and sadness and loneliness and disappointment and anger and fear and resentment and it just kept going. It didn’t seem to stop. Nothing Louis did was making it better.

He buried his face in his knees taking a deep breath. Tried to remind himself why he’d finally agreed to let Harry go. The emotions, they’d been too much, and nothing Louis did was making it better. He felt like his only option was to let Harry go, just to see if that would be the thing Harry needed to be happy again.

He tried to even his breathing, calm his heart, make everything better. He knew it wouldn’t get better though. Not unless Harry came back, and the distance over the bond just seemed to be getting further and further away. Harry wasn’t coming back.

Someone knocked on their door. Louis stayed quiet. He didn’t need anyone from the pack seeing him like this, and he also didn’t need anyone coming in here, mingling with what he had left of Harry’s scent - of them.

The door opened and his head snapped up, teeth bared for whoever dared intrude uninvited.

It was his mum.

She shut the door behind her, and looked around, taking in the state of the room. It was mostly pristine, except for the mess of clothes Harry had left by the drawer. Her eyes settled on him, and her eyes were filled with something Louis didn’t want to call pity.

“Harry left,” she said easily, too easy.

He flinched, and looked away from her.

“It wasn’t because of what Uncle Aaron said, was it?”

He didn’t want to answer her but he found himself shaking his head anyway. The bed shifted as she took a seat on the edge of the bed.

“Talk to me, pup.” Her fingers started to stroke through his hair and it brought him back to his childhood, when his mum was the one person he could talk to.

“He’s not.” Louis shoved his mouth against his knee. “He’s not my mate.”

Her fingers didn’t stop massaging his scalp, nails scratching him occasionally. It was soothing.

He took another deep breath, and tried to figure out how to explain himself. “We’re just roommates. We spend our rut and heat together because of work and school, makes it easier. I’d just finished my rut, and he was starting his. That’s why- that must have been why Liam and Niall and Zayn thought he was my mate when they did research. But we’re not. He’s moving to Edinburgh and I’m staying in London, and we’re going to go our separate ways.”

He risked looking up at her. Her hand followed his head, and her face was diplomatically blank. Just watching him. He swallowed, wanting her to say something.

“The pre-bond was new. He asked for it when I was helping him through his heat over the weekend.”

“Oh,” her voice was breathless and suddenly he was being swept up in hug and rocked.

It was a breaking point for him. He clung to her as he started to sob. Words were spilling out of his mouth but he didn’t know what he was saying. All he could hear was the rushing in his ears - or maybe it was his mum shushing him as she rocked him.

Louis didn’t know how long he kept crying, but at some point it dried up, and all he was left with was a sore throat and tired eyes.

“I love him so much,” he said.

“I know,” his mum said. She was still stroking her fingers through his hair.

“I don’t know what to do.”

“Of course you do.”

Louis closed his eyes. “No I don’t.”

“You need to go after him, pup.”

Louis huffed against her chest, shaking his head. “He doesn’t want that.”

“How do you know that?”

“Why else would he have left? If he wanted me to be with him?” Louis’ head felt dizzy. It couldn’t be that easy, could it?

“I’m sure you’ll need to talk to him, and work out logistics. If he wants to stay up in Edinburgh, and you need to finish school in London, but I’m sure something could work out.”

“What about the pack?” Louis was terrified to hear her response.

His mum sighed. “We’ll miss you, but you’re always welcome here, and hopefully one day you’d be able to settle down here.”

“But what if I don’t want to leave?”

“Then that’s something to discuss with your mate.”

Louis flinched. “Not my mate. We were just pretending.”

“Just pretending by giving him a pre-bonding mark. Of course.”

“He didn’t know what he was asking for. I never should have done it.”

“Why did you think it was even necessary to lie? Those boys’ egos aren’t that fragile that finding out they were wrong would destroy them.”

“It was Harry’s idea,” Louis said. “We didn’t know if we could stay here if I wasn’t mated, and so he offered to pretend for me.”

His mum didn’t say anything for a long moment. Then she leaned down and pressed a kiss on Louis’ forehead. “You need to go to him. Not tonight, because you’re drained, but as soon as possible. You need to talk.”

“What if he doesn’t want me?” Louis asked.

“Louis, everything I have seen over the last week tells me that he loves you with his entire being. You have to know this, somewhere deep down.”

“He’s moving to Edinburgh without me.”

“If that was the case why did he say the both of you were going to look at flats?”

“What?”

“At dinner. He said you both were going to Edinburgh to look at flats.”

“Well yeah, he wanted my opinion on flats.”

“Why?”

Louis shifted, nervous as his mind played over all the conversations they’d ever had about Edinburgh. He’d always tried to get through the conversations as quickly as possible, not wanting to listen to what was being said, because he always knew the end result. Harry would be leaving. But now he wondered if maybe he’d missed something important.

He chewed on his lower lip. “Do you think it’s possible he thought I’d come with him?”

“I’m not Harry, so I wouldn’t know what he thought. That’s something you’d have to ask him yourself.”

Louis as pretty sure he already knew he the answer. All he had playing in his head over and over was Harry begging him to leave with him, to come with him. Louis still wasn’t sure where he wanted to be, but he knew who he wanted to be with. And that person was Harry.

He needed to go after him.


	23. Chapter 23

Edinburgh was grey. It fit Harry’s mood as he made his way between the three flats he’d planned to see in one day. He’d taken Louis’ rented car to his mum’s first, staying there the night to try and nurse his wounds. He only gave himself the night to cry and mourn, curled up in the bed his mum had replaced with a guest bed in his old room. She’d offered to talk to him, but he hadn’t known what to say.

_I was pretending to be Louis’ mate so he wouldn’t be exiled from his family again, but it turns out that I lost him in the process because he’s not going to leave them ever again._

No that wouldn’t work, and he didn’t need his mum’s pity or comfort. So he’d just stayed quiet. When he’d come down the next morning he’d set about planning everything he’d been putting off while playing mates with Louis. He’d booked the appointments to look at these flats, and also gotten himself a spot in an omega hostel so he’d be able to spend the night. It was going to be a haul of a drive up to Edinburgh.

The flats were alright. He’d picked two one bedroom flats, and one two bedroom, to look at, even though the two bedroom would be out of his budget if he didn’t have a roommate. Each of the agents were nice though, as they explained how he’d secure the flat if he wanted them.

He didn’t secure any of the flats though. None of them were the right fit. None of this was the right fit for him. He’d built this entire move up in his head as something he’d be doing with Louis at his side. He was always surprised when he looked at something and Louis wasn’t there, commenting on how small the windows were, or how the bathrooms were wonky, like he had when they’d first moved in together in London.

He sighed and checked his phone for the time. He had more than enough time to go to the zoo at the very least. It was just past noon. Being around animals always made him feel better, even if he wouldn’t be able to interact with any of the animals yet. Though if he got there soon he’d be able to catch the penguin parade - as long as the penguins wanted to go on the walk off course.

***

Coming to the zoo had been the right decision Harry decided, as he meandered his way through the exhibits, killing time before the penguin parade. It wasn’t making the ache from everything being wrong go away, but getting to see the animals and the families enjoying themselves made him smile.

Even when they reminded him of being with Louis and his family.

Harry sighed and touched his mating mark. He wondered how long until it healed. Louis hadn’t been entirely clear on what would need to be done to break the pre-bond. Originally Harry had thought maybe it would just go away on its own, and when he thought back to how much Louis seemed to instinctively try and nurture the bond that would make sense, but considering how vague Louis had been he had a feeling there was more to it.

Too bad Harry didn’t know anyone else who would be able to talk to him about this. No one he knew pre-bonded, or ran in packs. Just Louis.

The ache continued.

He took a seat along what was marked as the penguin parade route, there early enough there were still spots. He pulled out his phone and frowned when he didn’t have any missed calls. He’d hoped that Louis would maybe try and reach out to him. Like those romantic comedies where the alpha comes rushing after their omega.

His finger hovered over Louis’ number in his contact page.

He clicked it and held the phone up to his ear, drowning out the sound of people milling around him.

The phone rang four time before going to voicemail, and Harry swallowed but he didn’t hang up. He listened to Louis’ rambling voicemail that gave too many options of how else to reach him depending on who was calling, and when the tone finally went off to let Harry speak his mouth was dry.

He swallowed and closed his eyes. “Lou, it’s me. Harry. I just- I’m in Edinburgh, looking at flats, getting things ready and I just- just wanted to check in on you.” _It feels wrong without you here_. “I’ll call you tomorrow, but if I don’t get a chance to speak to you, happy early birthday, and Merry Christmas.” _I love you, and I hope you still love me_.


	24. Chapter 24

The zoo was crowded. Louis checked his phone again, comparing when Harry had left the voicemail to now - only thirty minutes. Still, plenty of time to run off anywhere. But he could _feel_ Harry. He knew Harry was still here, even though he didn’t know exactly where. He shoved his phone back in his pocket and closed his eyes, taking a deep breath and trying to focus.

He’d followed the sense from their bond up to Edinburgh in the first place, but once he got there he hadn’t known exactly where to go. Louis knew that if their bond had been older - a true bond and not just a pre-bond - he’d have been able to feel exactly where Harry was, but he only had the pre-bond to work with.

The phone call had been a blessing even though he had missed it. He’d kept his phone on silent the entire he was at the manor, so he hadn’t switched it off yet. But instead of calling Harry back he’d immediately headed off to the zoo.

_Of course_ that’s where Harry would go to clear his head. He was a vet for a reason. He loved animals. It made perfect sense to Louis, once the idea was put into his mind, and he was mad at himself for not thinking about it earlier.

Now he was here, and he was trying to find Harry. Where could Harry be? They’d gone to the London Zoo together dozens of times, and Harry always showed him his favorite exhibits there, but there was no way to know if the aviary would still draw his attention, or the rhinos, or if it would something different. The map he’d been handed at the entrance told him there were red pandas, and pygmy hippos, and koalas, and deer, and really Harry could be anywhere.

His eye caught the front of the pamphlet, where it listed the daily talks.

_2:15 Penguin Parade and Daily Talk._

He looked around for a clock to tell him the time before he fished for his phone again.

_2:00_.

He took off running in the direction of the penguin exhibit, hoping that he wasn’t wrong. As he got closer the crowd got thicker, and he got looks as he weaved between people. It didn’t matter. He was on the lookout for Harry, trying to spot him in the crowd of people lining the walkway.

The bond was thrumming through his body, and Louis didn’t know if he was crazy or not but it felt stronger. Harry was still sad but he was trying to push through the sadness. All Louis wanted to do was hug him and tell him it would be okay.

_There_.

He spotted Harry sitting on a bench, sharing it with two other people.

Louis let out a sigh of relief as he pushed his way through, getting right behind Harry.

He couldn’t help himself. Before he knew it he had his arms wrapped around Harry’s neck and shoulders, hugging him tightly. Harry froze for just a moment under his touch but then he must have realized who was hugging him.

His hand came up and touched Louis’ forearms and he breathed out his name. “Lou.”

Louis squeezed him. “Hey, love. Sorry it took me so long to find you.”

“What?” Harry tugged himself free and turned around, knocking into the person next to him. “What are you doing here?”

Louis could feel the shock going through the bond and it mirrored the expression on Harry’s face. He couldn’t stop himself from reaching out and stroking Harry’s cheek. He wanted to kiss him desperately. “I had to find you.”

“But?” Now Harry just looked confused. “Your family.”

This was no place to have the sort of conversation they needed to have, and Louis could tell that with the looks they were getting from the people around them. He tugged on Harry’s shoulder, trying to get him out of his seat and away from the crowd.

“But the penguins,” Harry said, looking back at the sidewalk.

“You’ll see it plenty when you start working here in the New Year. Please. I just want to talk to you.”

Harry was stiff as he got out of his seat, which was immediately taken by someone else. Louis threaded their fingers together so they wouldn’t get separated as they made their away from the penguin walk.

Harry waited until they were out of the thick of people to tug his hand free, which got Louis’ attention.

“What are you doing here?”

“I told you. I’m here for you.”

Harry looked frustrated. “But why?”

“Because I love you.” Louis felt Harry’s heart stutter over his words and he stepped closer, wrapping Harry into a hug. The stutter wasn’t immediate rejection. “I can’t go through life without you, Haz. You’re it for me. I’ll follow you anywhere you want.”

“But. Your family. The pack.” Harry’s voice was quiet, and he was standing there frozen.

“It’s you.”

“I’m moving to Edinburgh. I have a job.”

“We’ll figure it out.”

Harry shook his head. “No. I don’t want- I don’t want to hear you say that. I want to know what we’re going to do. How we’ll make it work. I thought I knew, but I was wrong.”

Louis shushed him, as he felt the way Harry’s heart was beginning to beat frantically, anxiety going through the bond. “No, no, I mean, we’ll figure out what works out best for us. I still have a semester left down in London. I need to be there most of the week, but maybe I’ll be able to work it out something like four days down in London, three days up here.”

The tension in Harry’s body started to leak out as he gave into the hug and the words Louis was saying. “Up here.”

“With you.”

“You’d do that? Make that trip?”

“Always,” Louis said. He pressed a kiss on the skin above the mating mark. “And once I finish school I’ll move up here with you if that’s what we decide is best for us.”

“We don’t need to decide that now,” Harry said quickly.

“Are you sure? I don’t want you to be hesitant about anything.”

Harry finally moved, returning the hug in full force. “I love you, Louis. _Love you_ , love you. Like you’re my alpha, and I don’t want anyone else.”

The words shocked Louis and he wasn’t sure why. He’d thought he’d been prepared, was so focused on the way Harry _felt_ that he hadn’t realized hearing words accompanied with it would be even more powerful.

“I don’t want anyone else, omega.”

“Never let me leave again.”

“You’ll never have a reason to leave me again.” They stood there, hugging for a long moment before Louis felt a spike of anxiety go through Harry. He frowned, and looked at him. “What’s the matter?”

“The pack. They want you to move home.”

“I already spoke with my mum. She supports me and you doing what we need for ourselves. We’ll always have a home there, and hopefully one day we’ll be able to settle down back down there.”

“But… are you sure? You won’t resent me?”

“Never,” Louis said, trying to send as much reassurance across the bond as possible to Harry, even though he knew Harry couldn’t feel anything. For good measure he pulled Harry down into a soft kiss, nice enough for public. “I will never resent being with you. You’re my omega.” He made sure to press his hand against Harry’s bonding mark as he said it.

Harry whimpered, and then he was throwing his arms back around Louis. “We’ll go there every holiday we can.”

“Of course.”

“And we’ll go there after we mate for real. So they don’t kidnap me again.”

This time Louis laughed at the mention, instead of letting the anger and terror that was still associated with the memory take over. “Yes, exactly.”

Harry was quiet for a moment, and then he asked, “can we go see them feed the giant pandas?”

Louis laughed. “Anything for you.” He tipped Harry’s head towards him and kissed him again. “And when the park closes we’ll look into finding a place to stay for the evening and look for more flats. Unless you were successful today?”

Harry shook his head. “Couldn’t find anything.”

“We’ll find something, now that I’m here.”

“But tomorrow is your birthday. I want to do something special for it.”

“We will. Don’t worry. We have all the time in the world, yeah?”

Harry nodded, eyes sparkling. “I love you.”

Louis felt the love going through the bond, and he couldn’t wait until he send it back to Harry.


	25. Chapter 25

Harry woke up slowly. The hotel room was chilly but pressed against Louis and burrowed under the blankets it was warm. He smiled a little as he realized he’d woken up before Louis which meant…

He grinned as he slinked his way down under the covers. Louis was still naked from last night which meant Harry had easy access. He put a gentle hand on Louis’ hip to balance himself before he started to pepper kisses along his stomach, taking his time.

Louis shifted underneath him but Harry could tell he was still asleep. That was fine.

Louis’ cock was half hard by the time he finally got to it, and Harry rubbed his cheek against it before he pressed a kiss to the base. Louis’ cock twitched and he had to grin.

He kissed it again, this time more exaggerated, so more of his lips grazed against the sensitive skin. He continued to tease, licking with his tongue instead of using his mouth fully. He wanted to see how long until Louis woke up.

He could tell Louis was beginning to stir by the groans he was making underneath him, but it wasn’t enough. Harry wanted to pull him out of sleep.

Louis’ cock was fully hard, but still Harry resisted the urge to take him in his mouth. He licked the head with his tongue, getting him wet while tasting the salt of Louis’ pre-come.

_Finally_ there was a sign of life from beneath him. Louis’ moaned and his hand found its way to Harry’s shoulder, gripping over the mating mark. Harry hissed in pleasure. The jolt through his body reminded him that Louis had reopened the mark yesterday, making it deeper. Apparently Louis would be able to do this as much as he wanted until they finally mates and it would provide a steady foundation for their actual bonding.

Harry shuddered as he thought about it.

He heard Louis say something but he couldn’t actually hear anything under the covers. He took his cues from Louis’ hands though, the ones impatiently shoving his head back towards his cock.

He gave it another teasing lick and he was rewarded by Louis grabbing a fist full of his hair and pushing him down. Harry grinned and started to move so he’d be more comfortable in between Louis’ legs, but he was stopped again.

This time Harry actually paused because he didn’t know what Louis wanted. A moment later the covers were pushed off of them exposing him to the chill of the room. 

“Get up here,” Louis demanded. 

Harry frowned. What did he mean?

Expect instead of getting tugged up to him like he was expecting Louis was pawing at his hips, trying to get him to turn them towards him. 

_Oh_. Harry floundered for a moment. He was so bad at this is it’s what Louis was suggesting. Or at least he was pretty sure he was bad at this. They only ever did this during Louis’ ruts, when Louis wanted to taste them together while still getting serviced.

“Uh,” he whispered as Louis planted his knees on either side of his head. Harry was now straddling Louis’ face, his cock hanging down, while he looked down at Louis’ own cock. “Oh fuck.”

“Go ahead,” Louis said, voice raspy from the morning. “It’s what you wanted right?”

Harry swallowed, nodding, before he leaned down and wrapped his lips around the tip of Louis’ cock. And just like that Louis was mimicking him, taking the tip of his cock into his mouth.

Harry gasped and loosened his lips. Louis’ stayed tight though, sucking down until he’d taken almost it half of Harry’s cock into his mouth.

This, _this_ was why Harry was bad at this. He always got overwhelmed by his own pleasure and found himself unable to reciprocate. He tried though. Tried to focus on just sucking Louis’ cock, but it was so hard.

He wanted to satisfy his alpha but when his alpha was the one doing these things to him ...it was so hard to focus.

Especially when Louis dropped his cock in favor of angling his head up and tilting Harry’s hips down…

Harry moaned, abandoning Louis’ cock once again as he felt Louis’ tongue swipe against his cunt.

“Oh, fuck,” he whined. He pressed his head into Louis thigh, and it had to be disappointing that he wasn’t able to keep a rhythm going for more than a few seconds.

Louis didn’t let up though. He used a hand to wrap around Harry’s cock while he tongued at his cunt, shallow fucks that shouldn’t have done much but felt so good. Harry knew his whines were filling up the room as he started to chase his orgasm, even though Louis’ cock was left hard and untouched to rub against Harry’s cheek.

“Good omega,” Louis praised as he pulled away for a second, and then there were fingers pushing inside him.

It was a torrent of sensations, a hand on his cock, fingers inside him, and Louis’ tongue getting everything wet and messy. Harry could only hold on for so long, and he turned his head, opening his mouth so at least there was a chance…

Louis’ hips did most of the work finding his open mouth and thrusting in. Harry practically sobbed at being filled from both ends, even if the rhythm fucking his throat was stuttered. He’d accept it.

Louis’ fingers curled inside him and Harry felt himself shoot off before the actual sensation of coming hit him fully. His sobs of pleasure were cut off by the cock in his mouth and he tried to sink down further. He could feel the knot forming at the base and he wanted it. He wanted to be filled on both sides.

He needed it.

He needed it.

He opened his mouth wider and he got it. Louis’ knot locked behind his teeth and lips, a snug fit as he pulsed come down Harry’s throat. His eyes were wet from all the sensations and Harry didn’t care. He felt too good.

It was a very good way to start the day.

***

They made their way back to Cannon Hall by the time the Christmas feast was winding down. They’d made the poor executive decision to bypass the manor in favor of going to see Harry’s mum first, even though that lengthened their trip.

They’d known going to see his mum would be significantly shorter, and they were right. It had only taken about ninety minutes for them to excuse themselves and head back to Louis’ pack home, where escape was much more difficult.

They were welcomed with open arms, hugs and kisses delivered without judgment. Harry didn’t know what they had been told but it seemed it didn’t matter. They were just happy to have them both back.

He settled in against Louis’ chest in the main entertaining space, happily pressing kisses to his neck. Louis was relaxed underneath him while he kept a steadying hand on Harry’s hip.

Harry looked around at the pack gathered there, enjoying themselves.

“Just think,” Louis whispered in his ear. “One year we’ll be adding some pups to this mix of chaos.”

Harry flushed at the thought and snuggled closer. “I can’t wait.” He tightened his hold on Louis’ neck and turned to kiss him. “Merry Christmas, alpha.”

Louis hummed into the kiss. “Merry Christmas, my omega.”

**Author's Note:**

> If you’re enjoying this feel free to leave kudos, a comment, or [reblog the tumblr post](https://sadaveniren.tumblr.com/post/189413095811/i-just-want-you-to-stay-by-sadaveniren-rated-e) :)


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